The Reception of Targeted Memories in Everyday Life:

Abstract

This chapter examines the reception of targeted memories, focusing on the ways in which these processes of classification and ranking come to be felt in everyday life. As is suggested here, the categorisation and prioritisation of memory is not necessarily integrated into a smooth memory-making process. There are mismatches, strange choices, and missteps. Drawing on interview and focus group data, we identify four points of tension generated in relation to the automatic production of memory on social media: attention, reductivity, misconception, and invasiveness. As such, the multi-faceted reception of targeted memories in everyday life, the chapter argues, provides novel insights into the potential tensions that are generated as a result of the partitioning and promotion of the memorable on social media.