Our long term memory can be very powerful. While our short term memory can only hold information for roughly 20 seconds, our long term memory can hold information for years and potentially even decades. There is, however, a point where information in the long term memory does fade away. This is the basis behind the decay theory. It states that over time, we begin to gradually lose memories. This concept is readily apparent in the 11th episode in the 8th season of Spongebob Squarepants, “Mermaid Man Begins.” In this episode, Spongebob and Patrick are about to watch a show that reveals the origin story of Bikini Bottom’s heroes, Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy. Just as the episode starts to air, tragedy strikes and they lose power due to a vigorous storm.…show more content… Suddenly, the power comes back on, and their origin story is played. As it turns out, both heroes were completely inaccurate in retelling their origin story, and that they simply got their powers from eating slightly overcooked popcorn. This is a perfect example of decay theory. The theory states that memories weaken as time goes on, and the exact thing happened to Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy. Considering how old they are in the episode, it can be assumed that their origin story took place decades ago. Their origin story was fresh in their minds when they started off as heroes, but became distorted and invalid as the years passed. This also ties into the concept that age itself is an overall factor in memory loss. As people get older, some of their memories become weaker. Combining this with decay theory, it makes complete sense that Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy were not able to correctly recall their origin story. Although it was put into a humorous context, this episode sheds light on how memory loss is a prevalent thing as time goes on. Specifically, it shows children how the elderly are at risk of memory distortion or
