The End of Forgetting: Growing Up with Social Media

Kate Eichhorn

ISBN 10: 067497669X / ISBN 13: 9780674976696

Published by Harvard University Press July 2019, 2019

About this Item

Seller Inventory # 217727

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The End of Forgetting: Growing Up with Social Media
• Publisher: Harvard University Press July 2019
• Publication Date: 2019
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 067497669X
• ISBN 13: 9780674976696
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: Used - Very Good
• Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good
• Seller catalogs:
  • Non-Fiction - Societal

About this title

Synopsis

Thanks to Facebook and Instagram, our childhoods have been captured and preserved online, never to go away. But what happens when we can’t leave our most embarrassing moments behind?

Until recently, the awkward moments of growing up could be forgotten. But today we may be on the verge of losing the ability to leave our pasts behind. In The End of Forgetting, Kate Eichhorn explores what happens when images of our younger selves persist, often remaining just a click away.

For today’s teenagers, many of whom spend hours each day posting on social media platforms, efforts to move beyond moments they regret face new and seemingly insurmountable obstacles. Unlike a high school yearbook or a shoebox full of old photos, the information that accumulates on social media is here to stay. What was once fleeting is now documented and tagged, always ready to surface and interrupt our future lives. Moreover, new innovations such as automated facial recognition also mean that the reappearance of our past is increasingly out of our control.

Historically, growing up has been about moving on―achieving a safe distance from painful events that typically mark childhood and adolescence. But what happens when one remains tethered to the past? From the earliest days of the internet, critics have been concerned that it would endanger the innocence of childhood. The greater danger, Eichhorn warns, may ultimately be what happens when young adults find they are unable to distance themselves from their pasts. Rather than a childhood cut short by a premature loss of innocence, the real crisis of the digital age may be the specter of a childhood that can never be forgotten.

About the Author

Kate Eichhorn’s work explores the history of media technology and its impact on our lives. She is Associate Professor of Culture and Media at The New School and author of several books, most recently Adjusted Margin.