how do you write specifically about your own gmail inbox, whose whole job is to flatten your private world into, and with, data that looks like everybody else’s?
Seems like data loss is also a fear of death. The belief that if our life is documented and recorded, and that record is kept, then somehow it is more meaningful. Historical figures of the past have their statues and inscriptions, we have digital files on devices as our self-monuments. There may also be a status and a record of conspicuous consumption aspect to it. Being able to show people (including yourself) the things you've done.
Thank you so much for this. I was born in '85 and I can feel the creep of having more life behind me than in front. Had a childhood friend pass recently and realized I had no photos of us together from the last decade. I feel that having many photos helps make my memories more alive. A memory in my head can disappear like a fart in the wind. But a photo lasts a lifetime, right?
Seems like data loss is also a fear of death. The belief that if our life is documented and recorded, and that record is kept, then somehow it is more meaningful. Historical figures of the past have their statues and inscriptions, we have digital files on devices as our self-monuments. There may also be a status and a record of conspicuous consumption aspect to it. Being able to show people (including yourself) the things you've done.
YES yes. like at the back of your mind you think you're going to keep existing as long as your data exists.
Thank you so much for this. I was born in '85 and I can feel the creep of having more life behind me than in front. Had a childhood friend pass recently and realized I had no photos of us together from the last decade. I feel that having many photos helps make my memories more alive. A memory in my head can disappear like a fart in the wind. But a photo lasts a lifetime, right?
*totally*--& a photo kind of creates a new kind of memory too. it's like, oh yes, my life looked like this (even if it didn't)
oh, im typing! ive got nothing to say. _JC