My Forgetfulness

An important takeaway from the lecture is the lesson about system 1 and system 2. System 1 involves how to think automatically towards situations while System 2 puts way more effort in thinking. These two systems help me understand the process of how I think, which determines how I function in everyday life.

There are some things I know about these systems that I have. My system 1 does not function properly.  I am often forgetful even things I routinely do. For example, there was a time once when we left the car, and I accidentally left the car door not only unlocked, but wide open. Fortunately, my mother decided to double-check, and realize what I have done. Our car would have been an easy target for car knappers. There are also other more times where I became forgetful. Sometimes, I forgot to close the gate or the front door when I was the last person to leave out of the house.

I think the reason why I am so forgetful how I also do not function with system 2, which involves slow, but careful thinking. I do not usually process my thoughts sometimes because I often have lack of focus. Thus, I sometimes do not usually pay attention to whatever I am doing because portions of mind is at somewhere else.

I daydream most of the time. I often imagine myself in another world that I created, and go on to different adventures. I also daydream about the stories that I wish to create together with the characters that I have personally made.

I think this type of impairment is called maladaptive daydreaming, and manage to got it when I was young. When I was a child, my pediatrician diagnosed me to have Autism, which used to make me anti-social. The disorder more likely was the cause of why I have the habit of excessively blacking out in the first place.

This is why my system 2 can be problematic. Instead of giving my full attention to my natural surroundings, my mind thinks of something else. Because of the lack of focus, my cognitive thinking does not usually exert much effort on what I am doing.

Overall, the lesson of system 1 and 2 help understand my forgetfulness. I become aware on how faulty my system 1 is when it comes to memory. The reason relies on my system 2 where I greatly lack attentiveness, which is cause my maladaptive daydreaming that developed when I was a  autistic child.