How to capture memories in the streaming age – Wall Street Journal

Have you ever walked down the street or entered a house and a smell hits you that evokes such a sharp memory that it takes you right back to your childhood? Recently I had that experience when I followed an elderly man down the street, because he smelled like the cherry tobacco mixed with Dutch coffee sweets (Hopjes) and a splash of Old Spice of which my late father's cupboard smelt. These kind of memories; the day you saw Grease or the smell of  jasmine when you came out of a Star Wars screening or your first close dance to "Hey Jude" are harder to capture in a world where we are constantly exposed to new experiences. With the constant availability of movies, music and television provided by the streaming services; we can binge endlessly, but it also means you can hardly remember what you watched. And it is not only people who are a tad older who find the conveyor belt of entertainment a bit too much; new generations are also finding ways of trying to hold onto things as is evident in their nostalgia for reruns of Friends, Polaroids, vinyl records, glass milk bottles and there is even talk of bringing back cassette tapes. John Jurgensen suggests a strategy in the Wall Street Journal on how we can capture and relive memories that we seem to yearn for in the era of streaming services. – Linda van Tilburg