Documenting, Sharing, and Reflecting Ourselves Through the Years

 

“Let’s take a picture -London” by Fabio Guardino Let's take a picture - London | A young man, maybe a tourist… | Flickr

Over the past few weeks, my class and I have considered how exactly social media influences us and the way in which we experience and share our lives online. We have also considered how we formulate our own identities when social media is a part of our lives. By utilizing the books The Qualified Self: Social Media and the Accounting of Everyday Life (Lee Humphreys, 2018), The End of Forgetting: Growing up with Social Media (Kate Eichorn, 2019), and The Social Photo: On Photography and Social Media (Nathan Jurgenson, 2019), we have been able to consider multiple perspectives and arguments that focus on this matter. In this blog post, I will be providing a summary for the arguments made in portions of these books, and include real life, personal examples that I feel reflect the arguments that have been made.

Humphreys

Chapter 2: Sharing the Everyday

    In this chapter, Humphreys recognizes that social media has commonly been associated with the opinion that it allows for people to share pointless news and information. This opinion often comes to light as social media users and influencers began sharing pictures of the meals they had. Some people find it unnecessary that people dedicate posts towards showing off their breakfast, lunch, and dinner. This daily documentation of routine events seems ridiculous to many.

    However, Humphreys would like to argue that we have found a way to document our daily lives throughout history. A few examples noted by Humphreys are diaries, travel journals, spiritual journals, etc. These were options that we used before the age of technology to record our daily activities, thoughts, experiences, etc. She also points out that many of these means of accounting daily lives were shared in the past, just as we currently do through the use of social media now. However, it appears that the documentation of daily lives and activities is only criticized when it is done digitally rather than manually. Humphreys explores the idea that perhaps we have always had desires to share our lives with others, and as times have evolved, we now continue what we've always done, just now with the use of social media and technology.

    With that said, we now share our lives using vlogs, blogs, digital posting, etc. Many would argue that these means of sharing are narcissistic. They think that dedicating videos and photos of only yourself and your life is self-centered and selfish. Humphreys again argues against this argument by saying these platforms are not narcissistic, but rather they allow us to establish a sense of intimacy with the audience members that consume this content. These platforms are engaging in the sense that they allow others to experience the lives of others. Which is why it's common to see people willingly watch vlogs made by others. Going back to the journals and diaries, the same thing goes for them. People often shared and read the diaries and journals of others to get a sense of what the lives of others were like because it too was engaging.

    Overall, we as people have always found ways to share our lives by utilizing different platforms and tools. Social media and digital usage are just the most common ways in which we do this now.

    

Chapter 3: Performing Identity Work

    In this chapter, Humphreys argues that we have multiple versions of ourselves that are sincere to our identities but are individually revealed under certain circumstances. Humphreys offers her personal example of how she is a professor, a wife, and daughter, a mother, and a friend. She has multiple versions of herself who are a part of her and her identity, but what version she reveals entirely depends on who she is around, what environment she is in, how comfortable she is, etc.

    We use social media to show our multiple identity performances. For example, if we post a picture of us with our family it reveals that we are perhaps a child to our parents, a sibling, a cousin, etc. Multiple identities can be revealed through that single photo. And those multiple identities are revealed as we share those photos with others for them to see and interpret. With that said, these representations are both done for us and others. These representations don't have to be posted digitally for them to reveal our identity performances. Some examples that Humphreys offers that serve the same purpose are baby books and family photo albums. Those too show our connections to others and the identities that we have.

    A point Humphreys brings up is that not all representations that we create are actual. Sometimes they reflect our hopes and dreams, which are still as much a part of us. Humphreys suggests that our aspirations can reveal just as much about us than our own life experiences.

Chapter 4: Remembrancing

    Humphreys explains the concepts of "remembrancing", which is described to be how we use media accounting in order to connect with our pasts, presents, and futures. Remembrancing can help us to work through grief, remember past moments, and even help us to realize how far we have come from a certain point in our lives. Looking back on our past experiences can help us to shape our qualified selves.

    The process of remembrancing can help to trigger memories of past events and moments that we may not remember vividly. Humphreys offers the examples of how she has taken pictures of her children at school when they were little. Although they may not remember these days exactly, when they view the pictures when they're older the pictures can help them remember certain aspects of that day and/or general time period.

    Social media has also made it where it functions to initiate remembrancing. Humphreys points out how Facebook uses a memories function that can show you past memories that you have posted. This allows us to re-engage with the past memories, consider how they made us feel, and how they have contributed towards who we are.

Chapter 5: Reckoning

    Humphreys explains the concept of “reckoning”, which allows us to experience aspects of ourselves and others that we may not be able to through our own lived experiences. These aspects include our behaviors, interests, identities, etc. Humphreys states that reckoning is based on three aspects: evidentiary nature of media accounting, aggregation of traces, and reconciliation.

• Evidentiary Nature of Media Accounting

This aspect focuses on how media accounting has a sense of truth to it since they account for actual events and experiences. They can reveal where you are, who you were with, what you were doing, etc. Type of media accounting that can reveal aspects include selfies, go-pro footage, live streams, etc. These accounts allow us a means of viewing ourselves, and also allows for others to view us.

• Aggregation of Traces

This focused on how the continued collection of media accounting can show information about ourselves and the world around us. An example Humphreys provides of this is a photo frame that documents what Humphreys looked like during the grades of 1st-12th. It shows how she grew up through the years, but it only does that alone. This media trace accounts for only her physical appearance throughout her grade school years but misses all the information in between (ex: her friends, school groups she was a part of, her interests, etc.). So, in a way, media tracing is evidence for what it captured (traces) and what it didn’t capture (non-traces). Humphreys also points out the social media documentation is always incomplete because there is always more to document as time continues.

• Reconciliation

Reconciliation considers how some of our media traces may not reflect our sense of selves like we would think they would. This can happen when we view older posts that we posted, or we were included in. These may reflect who you were at one point but no longer reflect who you are now. This encourages us to reconcile with who we were and who we are now to make sense of these traces. This concept can also be tied to Humphreys “Mortified” section which discusses how we make sense of older posts and tie them to who we are now.

Example:

The picture above is of 5-year-old me dressed as Daphne Blake from Scooby-Doo for Halloween. My mom is the Velma Dinkley that's right behind me. Now, a number of Humphreys' points can be reflected through this one photo. Not all of her points, but still many.

Performing Identity Work:

My mom shared this photo on Facebook long before I was old enough to have a phone or a Facebook account of my own. She posted it to share the memory of how we were the Scooby-Doo duo of Halloween 2006. By sharing it, she also reflected her identity as a mother. She knew I wouldn't see the post since I was still too young, but she knew that her Facebook friends would be able to see it and see how she was reflecting her identity as a mother.

Remembrancing:

When my mom shared this photo with me years later, I definitely felt nostalgic. I didn't remember that day in its entirety, but seeing that photo helped me to remember certain details. I remember sitting on that couch in my grandparents'' living room to take that picture. I remembered how my mother straightened my naturally curly hair and sprayed it with temporary orange hair spray to resemble Daphne's iconic red hair. I even remember how the Scooby-Doo plush belonged to my older cousin, and how it was too big for me to carry.

Reckoning:

This is one of several Halloween photos that my mom has taken of me. I even know she has a photo frame back home that shows me in my Halloween costumes from a number of ages. This picture is definitely included in that photo frame. Some costumes that are also included in that frame are Wonder Woman, Hermonie Granger, Sally from The Nightmare Before Christmas. (Sorry, you guys only get to see one of my amazing costumes). But that photo frame is evidence of my Halloween costume choices (traces) and evidence of everything it didn’t capture (non-traces).

Eichorn

    Eichorn explains that as technology has risen to light, so have the concerns of parents as their children interact with technology. They worried that the innocence of their children would be ruined if they were exposed to violence and adult content through the use of technology and the internet. However, Eichorn argues that adults placed so much concern on protecting their children that they instead created censorship rather than considering if the problem is if they had a flawed view of childhood innocence (which was a point offered by Henry Jenkins). 

    With each generation, the types of childhoods kids experience change as well. Eichorn explains that older generations had the opinion of forgetting their memories so that they wouldn’t have to carry past traumas. They would even adjust the quality of their memories so that they still remained was relevant but didn’t include the unwanted parts. However, Eichorn argues that younger generations can no longer have the privilege of forgetting. New generations now have it to where their earlier years and whole lives can be posted online either by their loved ones or even by themselves. This creates evidence of their childhood that can be used to fact-check the preciseness of their memories. It is almost as if the new generation cannot escape their past since it will always be documented and associated with them. Which makes it to where the new generation has to face a lot more consequences about their childhood that the older generation didn’t have to face.

Example:

Yup, that kid with the mustache and tiny beard is me. This photo was posted by my mother on her Facebook in 2012. So why is 11-year-old me willingly having a mustache and beard painted on my face? Well… for those of you that weren’t there to experience the early 2010s, mustaches were one of the odd-ball trends that took my generation by storm. There were mustache t-shirts, jewelry, hats, etc. And I will admit, I was one of the kids that took part in this facial hair craze. In all honesty, as I searched for this photo to share here for your entertainment (your welcome), I saw that every other kid at my school too had the exact same face paint. So, it’s nice to know I wasn’t the only one walking around looking like a cartoon villain that twirls around their mustache while creating an evil plan. But the evidence that I was a part of the mustache craze of the early 2010s is forever preserved on my mom’s Facebook. Although I try to erase this trend from my head, it's kind of funny to know that people can always find this photo and remind me that I walked around looking like an 11-year-old Inigo Montoya from The Princess Bride.

Jurgenson

Chapter 1: Documentary Vision

    In this chapter, Jurgenson describes how photography has always been used as a means to share moments throughout history. Photography in the past, and still till this day, is recognized as a type of art. However, in more recent years, photography can be utilized by everyone, and it doesn't have to be done with the goal of making art. they can simply take photos to share moments and stories. Jurgenson argues that photography has made a switch from being "art historical" to "social theoretical". In fact, Jurgenson argues that photos can be used to see, speak, and learn about the experiences of others.

    With this in mind, Jurgenson points out that nowadays people are experiencing life while simultaneously considering what parts of life are "documentable". This is to say that we have now entered a point in social society where photos are shared not as objects but as experiences. We are now taking and sharing photos because they reflect moments, and because of this we are considering which moments of our lives are worth being consumed by an audience. In other words, we are now taking photos for both ourselves and for others. This is what Jurgenson means when using the term "documentary vision".

Example:

I took this picture during my last family vacation at The Key West Butterfly and Nature Conservatory. This is just one of the many pictures that I took while there. After looking back through all my photos later one, I had probably taken nearly 70 photos while at the conservatory. I loved how many of the photos came out and I chose to share them. Jurgenson argues that the action of sharing photos today is more than just sharing objects, it’s about sharing experiences. I shared this photo with my followers because I wanted to share the experience. Admittedly, it was also likely because I found this experience to be “documentable” and worth sharing with my followers. In addition to this, I only shared 10 of my nearly 70 photos on Instagram because that is all you are able to share in a single post. So, I again went through the process of choosing which butterfly photos were the best and worth sharing. In other words. I considered my audience and what content they were going to consume. I never really thought about this, but I guess Jurgenson is right. Vacation photos can be both for you and for others. Because I wanted to preserve that experience for myself by taking pictures, but I also shared these pictures so I could share that experience with others.