Since taking up scrapbooking, I have often wondered "Why is this so addictive?" What makes an adult collect colored papers and stickers and become a connoisseur of delicate cutting tools and adhesives? It's easy to find reasons as to how scrapbooking has become popular - improved tools, computer technology, media publicity, and an army of mentors marketing the hobby have encouraged its spread. But there are subtle, psychological reasons as to why scrapbooking is so popular.
You can bring order out of chaos.
There is a deep satisfaction in taking a stack of photos, museum brochures, ticket stubs and postcards of a vacation and instead of having them sprawl in a drawer or file folder, have them neatly arranged between scrapbook covers. In a world of random, haphazard events and activities, there is within the covers of a scrapbook an intoxicating illusion of order, sequence, and stylized control. The response to "How was your vacation?" can go from "Crazy - I hardly know where to start" to "We saw and did so much!"
You can make the intangible, tangible.
Digital photography is fast, efficient, and provides tremendous creative control for the person sitting at their computer. But when the power goes out, the hard drive crashes, the photo files get corrupted, or you are away from your computer, where's the evidence that what you say you captured on film was ever there? For any born before Generation Y there is often a mistrust of electronic media and a security in pages you can turn.
You can stimulate a variety of senses.
Show someone a single photograph and you share a single moment in time from a particular perspective. Take a scrapbook page of photos from various angles and include the feather that fell from your hat at the reception, the pressed flower from the bridal bouquet, the scented lace that went round the shower favors, and the scraps of paper upon which the groom wrote his vows and you have something that stimulates vision, touch, smell, and hearing as you read the vows and hear them again in your mind.
You can enjoy selective memory.
You can put a lovely sticker at the corner of the beautiful photograph of your relative stuffing their face with pineapple souffl without including any of the nasty comments or hurtful looks she gave before the party was over. In fact, you don't have to include photos of her at all if you don't want to remember she was there. I've noticed in my own scrapbooking that I take photographs of happy times and tend to leave the camera in my purse during tragic ones. I might journal a page about cancer treatment but I don't have to relive it visually. The result is that I have "The Best Of" any particular year rather than a documentary. My memory tours are fashioned as art, rather than reality.
You can jump start another's memory.
There is a great satisfaction in sharing a scrapbook with people who have experienced the same events you immortalized and hearing them say, "I had forgotten so much of this. Did we really go all these places? I couldn't remember what year that happened." Memory is a fragile thing, as anybody who has experienced the heartbreak of Alzheimer's or some other form of memory loss in their family can attest. Things you are sure you'll never forget are forgettable. Scrapbooks are a wonderful stimulation for your mind and for the minds of other family and friends.
You can connect the past and the future.
I have put together scrapbooks of old, heirloom photographs of family members I never knew. In working through these projects there is in depth historical research and revitalizing of family ties. My past is tangible because of the albums. I've never known a child to not enjoy looking through their "baby albums" and appreciating a perspective on their birth and early childhood that they did not have. Looking at heirloom albums gives children a sense of their personal connection with the timeline of history as captured in photographs and memorabilia of their ancestors. My scrapbooks connect to my future, to grandchildren and great-grandchildren I may never meet.
You can be private or social.
Scrapbooking can be a very pensive, private, personal activity. It's a meditative process to sort through feelings, memories, and relive experiences while you select photographs, choose layouts, and decide what story you want to tell. You do not have to find a partner, a playmate, or a musical accompanist to scrapbook. Yet, you can also join with other scrapbookers and work on projects in a social setting, with friends, clubs, workshops, conventions or cruises. Sometimes, the scrapbook process involves creative or product input from family and friends. There is a performance aspect to sharing your scrapbook stories with someone. Your scrapbook can provide a visual aid to what has happened since you last saw each other as you connect with relatives or entertain visiting friends.
You can go from inept to expert.
Scrapbooking, as artistic mediums of expression go, is very forgiving. If your pen slips while journaling, you can cover it with a cleverly cut background paper and try again. If your cropping wasn't perfect you can cut a frame and place it over the photo. Goofs can be the catalyst for new artistic expression. Yet, while beginners can experience almost immediate success, there seems to be no end to the levels of technical expertise you can strive to achieve. There is always a new trick or style or layout that you haven't tried. The hunt for ideal stickers is never-ending. There are always new challenges and different projects waiting so scrapbooking never reaches a point where you cannot progress.
It's true appeal, and the greatest reason scrapbooking has become so popular, is its adaptability to each person's individual needs, talents, and personality.