• QuizzaciousOtter@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    4
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    3 months ago

    Is it really this significant? I don’t think people usually describe it this way. I, for one, really don’t feel like I miss out on a lot.

    • TrousersMcPants@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      8
      ·
      3 months ago

      What I’m attempting (and maybe failing) to say is that it’s a key part of how you perceive the world. To you it isn’t really a big deal, but people who do think this way just view their own thoughts in a fundamentally different fashion, and the idea of such a big difference in that regard is kind of scary or upsetting to think about for some people. I personally think I would be very sad if I suddenly developed aphantasia, even though I don’t think my imagination is as vivid as others.

      • icosahedron@ttrpg.network
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        4
        ·
        3 months ago

        interesting. i’d say it’s not really that important, but then again i’d probably have a very different opinion if i didn’t have aphantasia.

    • Tahl_eN@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      3 months ago

      For me, I wouldn’t equate my ability to visualize things in my head to sight, but maybe hearing or smell. Could I interact with the world without it? Absolutely. But I do a ton with that ability. I hold lists, draw maps, plan routes, visualize models, check the contents of my fridge while at the grocery store. It also helps me make connections between disperate pieces of data. A lot of this I could do with a pencil and paper, but it’s so much faster to pull it up in my head.

      • Makeshift@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        3 months ago

        Wait… the way you describe it now…

        I was always told of photographic memory being some super power and thought “Hey, would be neat if I had THAT!”

        Was that just the ability to daydream all the time? I imagined people with like literal cameras for brains that could take a picture of a book page and read it later like a text document.

        This whole time, I might have had that mystical power all along and aphantasia people just overstated how accurate it was?

        • Tahl_eN@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          3 months ago

          That’s a good question. I don’t think I’ve met anyone in person who claimed to have a photographic memory. I definitely don’t do the “recalling long strings of numbers” thing that TV shows imply. But I can pull up a fairly accurate picture of the inside of my fridge and take inventory.