"Memory has always been a social activity... and our appetite for collective nostalgia is undiminished." (Bell, 2012)
Memory has long been stored "outside of our own individual bodies" and has been social, claims Bell (2012). The changes we are seeing today shifts where the information is stored, from a note on a shelf or a camera to "behind small screens". Bell argues that "our appetite for collective nostalgia" has always been aided by social events, memorial days and monuments such as statues and plaques. The web has become an accessible and very public "repository for our lives: a place to store memories, to be reminded, and to find other people's memories too".
Collective memory can connect and reconnect "us to things we need or want and would otherwise be without," Bell claims, and further argues that we might become more open and honest about our personal and complex histories as we get used to digitised memories.
"After all, memories aren't just about recalling singular facts, but making connections within a complex network. Why not use technology to help extend and enrich this network?" (Bell, 2012)Bell, Alice (2012) Memory in the Digital Age. [Online]
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2012/jan/14/memories-in-the-digital-age [14/01/2012]
