Remembering Forgetting

The End of Forgetting: Growing Up with Social Media by Kate Eichhorn
Harvard University Press, January 1, 2019

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For most of us, remembering is of great importance. We need to remember where we put our keys, who our family members are, and all those little details on the MCAT that can get us into an esteemed profession. We also enjoy remembering important events from our lives: a favorite song from childhood, our first car, a birthday party that actually turned out well. But, what about those events that we would rather forget or that we need to forget? In her new book, The End of Forgetting: Growing Up with Social Media, Kate Eichhorn argues that it is in fact impossible to forget much of what needs to be forgotten in the new age of social media. This is especially true, she suggests, for individuals whose identities are not fully accepted in their families and communities during childhood, and who, upon reaching adulthood, seek to carve out a new identity within a new social environment. Haunted by images and videos from their past lives, today’s youth may find it impossible to make such a journey and to leave the most traumatic or embarrassing parts of their childhood behind.