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Photography is a good thing right? We all enjoy the craft, and hopefully our images even bring pleasure to others. But according to some psychologists, spending too much time taking pictures can actually impair our memory and affect how we interpret the world around us.

Psychologist Maryanne Garry of New Zealand’s Victoria University of Wellington published a study indicating that the images we take can distort our memory by inducing “false memory implantation” whereby photographers entrust their camera to “remember” experiences for them, According to her research abstract, “while doctored photos” can cultivate false memories for that experience, so-called “true photographs” can do the same.

As Garry told NPR’s All Things Considered, “I think the problem is that people are giving away being in the moment.”

Another psychologist, Lisa Henkel, published a study concluding that taking photographs leads to an “impairment effect” in which details of an experience are lessened. “As soon as you hit the click on that camera,” she says, “it’s as if you’ve outsourced your memory.”

Our advice: Listen to the NPR audio interview below but then keep on shooting!