> The first ~1000 are spent in the the very limited tutorial area.
I think it's kinda strange that you're saying up to age 19 is "the very limited tutorial area", as if it doesn't count. Up to age 3 or 4, before you have stable memory, perhaps I could understand, but I'm well, well into middle age and I think of some of the time between say 10-19 as the most vivid in terms of my memories, friends, direction of my life, etc.
I scarcely recognize the person I was at 19 as the same person as me.
I have almost no recollection of school except for maybe a couple of dozen moments and a handful - no more than 4 or so - acquaintances. They were friends at the time, but we went to different colleges in different towns, we're not close now.
I remember books I read, but they're detached from a timeline. I remember programming - that was the most formative thing I learned, and it was outside school - but I have very little recollection of actual time spent, just that I did a huge amount of learning.
Have you heard of Severely Deficient Autobiographical Memory disorder? For me it's memory as it relates to myself that barely functions, I can remember facts just fine.
That's weird to me. I'm in my mid thirties and I feel the bulk of my memories are in the 13-23 range and everything's been a quick blur since then.
In fact when I started a dream diary for a personal experiment, I'm in highschool in most of them - literally, as the dreams take place in the building.
I find this really interesting. I left school 20 years ago, I've lived a wildly varied life and been all around the world on adventures outside of general tourism, with highs and lows tied to locations I am beyond familiar with, yet far too many of my dreams are in that damn school.
I am slightly older and I don't really remember very much from around when I started work after graduating. It's kind of sad that works consume a lot of my time but I have no memory to show for it.
I went through the lucid dreaming rabbit hole when I was 17, I recently found the diary from back then and was curious to see how different the dreams are now.
I agree with the other poster. You are definitely on the extreme side here. Good for you, really, I would love to have your superpower, but you are not the norm.
Sure, I may be toward the other end of the extreme. It's certainly not eidetic memory, I just have tons of memories from all years of my life >=4. But I do think "basically no memories before 20" is close to the other extreme.
No, what you said sounds extremely extreme. Remembering a lot of stuff since ~4? For me, that feels inconceivable!
Myself, I remember maybe one or two things per year from 4+ onwards if I focus; flashes of images. This gradually ramps up after ~12yo, and I can actually say I remember some events from around 16+ well enough to describe them and place in rich context. Properly detailed memory? That starts for me somewhere after 20. I'm 36.
> I think of some of the time between say 10-19 as the most vivid in terms of my memories, friends, direction of my life, etc.
Me too. I think 12-14 is the most vivid for me... I used to enjoy stuff a lot more fully and completely than I seem to be able to nowadays. I miss that.
That makes sense. Just young enough to be able to fully emerse yourself in activities, while not quite old enough to have real worries. Of course I'm saying that from a position of privilege, but that was a sweet spot for me as well.
