I have managed many memories rhetorically. Most often it occurs when recalling a disappointing or a troublesome memory. I think it is only natural to want to forget or at least not want to have to remember something that is difficult to think about, so most of the time when I manage my memories I contemplate the occurrence and attempt to rationalize my actions and behaviors in the specific situation. This happens more frequently than I would like to admit. Over time it becomes difficult to distinguish between the alterative and more favorable recollection, the girl was ugly anyway for example, and what actually did happen in a particular memory, rejected!
I think the idea of expiration dates for information is very accurate. In general most information or facts are proven wrong, the world is flat, Obama can make a difference, and expire. Some information is more sensational like gossip stories about friends, acquaintances, or celebrities and expires quicker than other more serious bits of information, math theorems, and distance to the sun, which remain relevant for years.
The focus of the article was mostly about how personal information created by the person is used against them. For example Stacy Snyder the 25 year old denied a teaching certificate after allegedly lewd photos of her surfaced on the internet (Mayer-schonberger 2009). This focus area of information, personal photos and details, definitely expire. This type of information has an expiration date based on proximity, the farther away you are from Stacy, figuratively and literally, the quicker the information expires and less important it is. Even identity thieves will face problems when assuming her identity 20 years after she expires, and the fickle administrative board will no longer care about her photo when they have no position of authority.
I don’t really share much information online that I know of. There are no embarrassing photos of me on the web, but a few of my friends have some funny or embarrassing photos on their cell phones and my brother has a few, but his are in analog form and could expire soon.
When myspace first became popular I tried messaging all kinds of girls, ones I knew from school and ones I didn’t know at all, for dates and whatever. I hope these messages are not stored digitally or in the recipient’s memory. In particular the messages to girls that I knew in real life are the worst but probably won’t expire.
"Delete" Viktor Mayer-Schonberger, 2009
No comments:
Post a Comment