@Alther 28 September 2025 more from that month

Humans and the Habit of Forgetting Their Own Actions Humans are curious creatures: capable of creating, imagining, and writing history. Yet one trait often stands out—the habit of forgetting, especially when it comes to their own behavior. Psychologists call this the self-serving bias: a tendency to remember one’s good or advantageous actions while minimizing, erasing, or even justifying the bad ones. Human memory is not an objective recording like a camera; it is more like a notebook that gets rewritten each time it’s opened. Details shift depending on emotions, interests, or how someone wishes to see themselves—or be seen by others. The philosopher Nietzsche once argued that forgetting is not always a weakness but a necessity. Without it, humans would be chained to the weight of the past, unable to move forward. In this sense, forgetting becomes a form of protection. But at the same time, forgetting can be destructive, for it allows the same mistakes to be repeated again and again. In the digital era, this dynamic becomes even more complicated. Social media preserves traces that are difficult to erase, making forgetting nearly impossible. Digital footprints act as a mirror that constantly reflects past actions, even when we wish to hide them. So the question arises: does forgetting save humans from the burdens of memory, or does it trap them in cycles of repeated mistakes? The truth lies somewhere in between. Forgetting is a double-edged sword, forever accompanying the human journey.