Lots of us are bad with remembering names, but can still pick out a past colleague or old flame when they pop up on social media. However, a new study from Harvard University has found that up to 5.42 per cent of people struggle with the opposite problem. 'Prosopagnosia', or face blindness, is a disorder that makes you unable to recognise faces you've seen before, including those of friends and family. It can also result in you being unable to identify yourself in pictures or the mirror, or feeling like you know complete strangers. Last year, Brad Pitt detailed his experience with the condition, admitting that'nobody believes' him when he talks about it.

When you can't rely on facial recognition, you look beyond the obvious. When you can't rely on facial recognition, you look beyond the obvious.

Facebook is looking at adding facial recognition to its highly anticipated smart glasses that are planned to hit the market next year. At an all-staff meeting, Facebook Reality Labs director Andrew Bosworth said the company was examining the technology's legal and privacy ramifications, BuzzFeed reports. He cautioned the benefits and risks were obvious, 'and we don't know where to balance those things.' Facial recognition would help a user recognize someone whose name they've forgotten, Bosworth theorized, or if they have face blindness. Facebook Reality Labs director Andrew Bosworth said the company was examining the legal and privacy ramifications of adding facial recognition technology to its upcoming smart glasses.