Noticing the unnoticed: Objects Capturing Memories and Creating Them

Accessing my google web history was incredibly surprising. I am very active, even up to 2am at night and 6am in the morning. Trend statistics allowed me to access this. This is quite similar to the quantified self. Now that i know how much I'm on my phone, and at the most antisocial hours, i would like to cut down. Before this i wouldn't have said if asked that i use my phone and use google that much.

Some statistics:

Total Google Searches: 25308

I find it interesting the way in which technology and certain objects interact with us; creating data-streams that we could tap into and use. Sometimes this data is not captured or thee are no systems in place to do so. My iPhone is a multifunctional object that has a multiple 'agendas'. It is made to be obsolete: the iPhone operating system degrades quickly and it is not damage-resistant (easily crackable screen etc), it wants to be able to send me things (push notifications) and more. It creates false experiences to draw me in (virtual reality, augmented reality).

Are digital experiences and augmented reality false memory? Yes, they are. We are often so immersed in digital experiences and they have so many aspects of 'real' experiences that we can be deeply affected by them. Take film for example: these experiences are not real; we know we are not in danger, but horror films can have a lasting psychological impact even on adults. The simplest example of this is that some people don't want to sleep alone after watching horror films. 

 Do objects create memories, interact with each-other and have 'agendas'? Yes, they do. 

A branded pen wants to make people buy other branded pens... And it has a variety of ways to do this... By being a better quality than non branded pens or by looking better...

I am also interested in the way that objects could interact without people: creating their own memories separate from us. My phone could tap into other phones, creating a digital footprint of its own.

I am very interested in the memories that objects create. 

By digging into my google history I rediscovered a design book that i wanted to read:

The Design of Things to Come: How Ordinary People Create Extraordinary Products[Hardcover]