Why do we forget things?
There are many reasons why we forget things. Let's consider a minor but excruciating example - even though you only met them ten minutes ago, you’ve forgotten the name of the person you’re talking to at a party and you know you’re going to need to introduce them.
Fortunately, there’s a good deal we can do about this if we choose. Perhaps the biggest reason we forgot their name was that we simply weren't paying enough attention in the first place.
While they were introducing themselves, we were focused on whether there’s spinach stuck in our teeth, the right stance to best show off our paunch, and what we’re going to say next.
In that flurry of self-conscious unawareness, our attention was elsewhere. Like a fragile snowflake turning immediately to slush on tarmac, the memory never got a chance to land, let alone settle.