Exploring Online Social Interactions in the Remaking of Memory

The human cognitive system seeks efficiency, and the use of memory is no exception in this regard. But this efficiency also comes at a cost. As information becomes widely available, easily accessible, and generally unfiltered—as is increasingly the case with the use of the Internet and social media—these Internet properties, combined with certain properties of memory, can affect how we process information and form memories. Central to this thesis is also the cognitive-experimental evidence that experiences are routinely shared and remembered with others, and this social process alters our memories, sometimes making them more erroneous. With our increasing access to vast networks of social connections on the Internet and social media, properties of memory and facets of the Internet discussed here raise questions for future research about what we can predict and test about memory-making in the age of the Internet and social media.