Remember Me: Memory and Forgetting in the Digital Age

As the end of December draws near, Facebook routinely sends users a short video entitled ‘Your Year on Facebook’. It lasts about a minute and brings together the images and posts that received the highest number of comments and likes over the last year. The video is rounded off with a message from Facebook that reads: ‘Sometimes, looking back helps us remember what matters most. Thanks for being here.’

It is this ‘looking back’, increasingly the focus of social networks, that is the inspira...