Remembrance in the Age of Social Media

Remembrance in the age of social media has been drastically altered in that we, through our every move, are documenting our thoughts, actions, and creating traces of our existences that will possibly last forever. The instant gratification and connection of social media allows us to create content and memories of ourselves on a whim, whenever we please.

Our ability to create an identity on the social media platform, apart from our daily life, allows us to, in a way, be in control of how we go down in history. This strategic manipulation of our public image, based on what we choose to document from our daily lives is referred to as "Memory Work".

"Memory work", according to scholar Annette Kuhn, is our actively processing memories through tangible things that authenticate the events depicted. In other words, if there's no photos, it never happened. Memory work is purposeful and strategic, and allows us to create a narrative of our life, that we get to selectively curate from our experiences. We get to pick and choose from the good, bad, and ugly of our lives what we put on display for the world to see.

One major difference between pre-social media's memory work and how we archive our being now, is that in the past, your memories were more so reserved for those in your immediate circle, close friends and family, but now, you truly put your entire existence on display for the world to see.

Imagine if people living in the 19th century or before had social media, besides "important" historical figures, most of the media recounting the lives of ordinary citizens is likely lost or destroyed, and nobody today had such intimate relationships as to know those people personally. Without photos or writings, it is like those people never existed.  If the everyman had access to social media, our perceptions of those people long gone would likely be drastically different.

Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum-with editing by myself.

What if you could log onto instagram, and take a look at your great (x3) grandmothers instagram of farm life in the 1800s, complaining about working on the loom, milking cows, and boredom of the rural nothingness. The intimacy and personality of social media allow us to connect on a much closer level with whoever's account we are viewing, and we can get a good idea of just who that person really is (or who they're trying to be).

Yuri_B

Semevent

Death can seem even more inescapable and permanent in the age of social media. Obviously, death has always kind of been a forever thing, but it has become much harder to forget those who have passed when they've got accounts full of their thoughts and memories to view at any time. Unless someone else tampers with the account after the person's passing, it is there to stay forever, on static display for all to see at their discretion. How will this affect future generations recollection of loved ones? Social media is still very much in its infancy, we haven't been able to see what it looks like when several generations, who were on social media their whole life, have came and went, and how it looks to be able see your great grandfather's archive of his whole life with just the movement of your thumbs.

I often run into the account that used to be owned by my friend who overdosed two years ago, every time it pops up it fills me with chills, and I will likely never unfollow the account, despite the face that I know it will never post again. In the past, your interactions with the deceased would, for the most part, be confined to your memories, slowly fading away as the years went by, but now, it is much easier to see what was documented of those who have passed lives, and how you interacted with them when they were here.

When I come across my friends old instagram account, it's much different than just thinking of them after having been to their funeral, where everybody just recounts their sappiest moments, choosing to spin a narrative based on their perspective of the person, trying to be "respectful" of their memory. I can see my old comments clowning on his poses and captions, I see things that he posted that I found "cringey" or goofy, I see who my friend chose to portray himself as, and I find that to be much more of a genuine way to remember, than fading memories of a sugarcoated, tense death ceremony.

It's a funny world we live in where it becomes a dilemma when you come across a dead person's instagram account, and it flashes through your mind "well, they aren't going to post anymore...I could make my follower ratio look way better.." What are we supposed to do with the accounts of those who have passed away? It is futile and depressing to try and maintain a posting schedule for the deceased, because there's now a finite amount of pictures and things to remember them by, the dead lack the ability to take selfies in the casket, no more content will ever be produced. To comment "rest in peace, miss you" on the final posts of the deceased on their birthdays or death dates seems to be a modern form of visiting their gravestone to pay respects. Death on social media is a very interesting and new facet of the human experience, and how this will affect the future historical account in the long run has yet to be seen.