You’d think people would have an easier time remembering a line from a great writer—William Shakespeare or Charles Dickens, perhaps—than an off-the-cuff Facebook post from a semi-literate friend talking about his dog. However, according to new research published in the publication Memory & Cognition, you’d be wrong. The study suggests people are more likely to remember a Facebook post than a stranger’s face or a quote from a book. Why? Scientists suggest the casual wording of Facebook posts is more, as they call it, “mind-ready.” Because the posts more closely mimic how we speak normally, it’s easier for us to recall them. “This is surprising and gives us a glimpse into how memory works and has implications for how we learn, advertise and generally communicate,” says the study’s author, Laura Mickes, a senior research fellow at the University of Warwick. (Time)

Paul Asay has covered religion for The Washington Post, Christianity Today, Beliefnet.com and The (Colorado Springs) Gazette. He writes about culture for Plugged In and wrote the Batman book God on the Streets of Gotham (Tyndale). He lives in Colorado Springs with wife, Wendy, and two children. Follow him on Twitter.