Why we forget five things a day

More than half of those surveyed blamed their forgetfulness on trying to do too many things.

More than half of those surveyed blamed their forgetfulness on trying to do too many things.

Published Nov 15, 2011

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Forgotten to return a phone call or send a birthday card? Don’t bother dwelling on it - because you’ll probably forget three more things before the day is out.

Our busy lifestyles mean five important tasks or facts slip our minds during the course of a typical day, a study has revealed.

Failing to return calls and reply to emails are the most common omissions during hectic days at work.

And forgetting colleagues’ names, leaving your documents in the printer and neglecting to grab our packed lunch on our way out of the house also feature high on the list.

More than half of those surveyed blamed their forgetfulness on trying to do too many things.

A quarter said they were expected to remember too much, and a fifth said there weren’t enough hours in the day to deal with everything.

The problem seems to get worse with age, with more than half saying they forget things more frequently as they get older.

And modern life adds to the burden, with one in five forgetting important passwords and quarter not remembering to charge their mobile phone battery. A further 12 percent get a rude awakening every weekend because they forget to turn their alarm clocks off.

Seven out of ten also said they had become dependent on to-do lists to keep their lives in order.

However, there are some occasions when being absent-minded comes in useful for some. Putting rubbish out, taking laundry out of the washing machine and doing the washing up were all among the 20 things most frequently “forgotten”.

Gregg Corbett of Avery Office and Consumer Products, which commissioned the poll of 2,000 adults, said: “People have so much to do in their lives that the most basic things like remembering to bring lunch to work or replying to important emails are being completely forgotten about.

“This then causes further complications when we try to correct things that we’ve overlooked.” - Daily Mail

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