Abstract
This article asks what impact temporality and timing have on the ways in which memories are felt and made to matter on social media. Drawing on Taina Bucher’s theorisation of the ‘kairologic’ of algorithmic media, I explore how digital memories are resurfaced or made visible to people at the ‘right time’ in the present. The article proposes the notion of ‘right-time memories’ to examine the ways in which social media platforms and timing performatively shape people’s engagement with the past. Drawing on interview and focus group data, I explore four ways that right-time memories are sociotechnically produced and felt in everyday life: through an anniversary logic, personalisation, rhythms, and tensions. Ultimately, it is argued that when memories are made to matter in the present is a crucial way to further examine the temporal politics of social media platforms and algorithms
Original language | English |
---|---|
Number of pages | 17 |
Journal | New media & society |
DOIs | |
Publication status | E-pub ahead of print - 3 Jun 2022 |
Bibliographical note
© The Author(s) 2022Keywords
- algorithm
- memory
- social media
- timing