Delete: The Virtue of Forgetting in the Digital Age, a book by Viktor Mayer-Schönberger, is all about how digital technology does not have the capability of forgetting, which for some people can bring about certain consequences. Even though it is clear after reading this book that Viktor is very knowledgeable about the history of digital technology, the science behind forgetting and especially knowledgeable about how to combat the challenge of forgetting in this digital age, his argument is not complete. He mentions that “we can respond to the shadow of digital remembering employing a variety of different means” (Mayer- Schönberger p198), and he even describes these possible means in the book, but his argument is lacking information on how to teach younger generations about their Internet hygiene, and this could be a step towards forgetting in this digital age.

In the first part of the book Viktor provides a background to the consequences of digital technology not being able to forget. He does this by providing a story about a woman, who was on the path of becoming a teacher when her university officials denied her of her teaching certificate because “her behavior was unbecoming of a teacher” (Mayer- Schönberger p1). This was because of one of her Myspace pictures she posted of herself in a pirate costume drinking out of a plastic cup, which the university officials obviously presumed was alcohol. This story provides the premise of the book because it is a recent example of what consequences can happen if you share something on the Internet that cannot be forgotten.

In the third section Viktor talks about there being four main technological drivers that have facilitated a shift from analog to digital in our world. The first driver he describes is digitization. It is because everyone’s world in our society is controlled by digitization. We all have some sort of digital device that we use on a daily basis. Photos are now taken digitally, etc. The other three drivers are cheap storage, easy retrieval and global reach.

In the next section Viktor talks about the consequences of not being able to forget in our digital world. He mentions, “with the help of digital tools we- individually and as a society- have begun to unlearn forgetting, to erase from our daily practices one of the most fundamental behavioral mechanisms of human kind” (Mayer- Schönberger p92). This means that we used to be able to forget easily, but with the invention of digital tools that notion has become obsolete and it is causing us more harm than good.

Viktor goes on to describe potential ways to fix or prevent those consequences from happening. Those ways are by using digital abstinence, by using information privacy rights on websites, or by adjusting and really thinking about what you are going to share on the Internet. And in the very last section Viktor talks about reintroducing forgetting and how that can help Internet users to not have to suffer through any more consequences.

As much as it is obvious that Viktor is very knowledgeable about everything he talks about in his book, he is lacking one very important concept. This concept is that older generations have to teach the younger generations, who are starting to use the Internet, about Internet hygiene and what it means to really think about their Internet identity and to think about what to post publicly or not to post online. This needs to be taught by parents to their children because the Internet “provides new modes of social presentation and positioning, new media for expression, and new ways of narrating the self” (Kirmayer, Raikhel & Rahimi, 2013) and if young generations are not taught how to properly use the Internet it could ruin their lives, like the story that Viktor provides in his book.

I really believe that teaching the younger generations about their Internet hygiene could be progress to forgetting in this digital age, or not having to forget because Internet users are not sharing things that could potentially ruin their lives. This is because from a young age when my family first got the Internet my parents taught me about Internet hygiene. One of the main things they taught me was that anyone in the world at any time can take a screenshot of something I’ve shared on a social media site, for instance, and they can keep it forever. They really instilled in me that nothing is ever properly, one hundred percent deleted from the Internet.

Reading Viktor’s book was really good insight into the history, science and future of forgetting in this digital age. However, it lacked due to not having any information about the young generations in our world that are just starting to use the internet and what we can teach them about Internet hygiene.

BIBLIOGRPAHY

Journal Article:

Kirmayer, L., Raikhel, E., & Rahimi, S. (2013). Cultures of the Internet: Identity, community and mental health. Transcultural Psychiatry, 50(2), 165-191.

Novel:

Mayer-Schönberger, V. (2009). Delete: The virtue of forgetting in the digital age. New Jersey: Princeton University Press.