How can social media help a person regain something he lost? A man from Nebraska has proved that Instagram has more to it than what meets the eye. After suffering from a stroke, Joseph Miller lost his long-term memory. But thanks to Instagram, his memories were reignited and he recovered easily.
Miller has been using the photo sharing app for a long time before he suffered from stroke. The 25-year old man thought he was just suffering from migraine one day. He was about to write poetry but could not think straight so he went to bed.
He told ABC News that three days after, he was rushed to the hospital after being spotted unconscious by his roommate. They found out that he was in a coma. Miraculously, he regained consciousness after 17 days. However, he cannot speak or move.
With much determination to learn, it took him one month to learn how to communicate and he was eventually discharged.
When he had recovered enough to be released from hospital, Mr Miller went back to his parents' house in Nebraska. As he worked to recall moments of his past, he stumbled across his Instagram account.
"On my own, I don't remember much about my childhood. I'm still working on that, but it's fascinating that Instagram has played a huge role in recovery and is helping me to remember," he told News.au.
"It's through Instagram that I remembered that I worked in accounting, that I liked to go boulder rock climbing, and that I love meeting complete strangers," he added.
According to Dr. Steven Cramer, a neurologist and stroke specialist at UC Irvine Health, California, looking at old photos could help in exercising the brain after injuries like stroke.
"If he's a couple of months out of the stroke, this is a person's brain that's kind of like a kindergartner who's excited to learn again," he said.