DIGITAL ECHOES OF SELFHOOD: EVALUATING IDENTITY AND MEMORY RECONSTRUCTION THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA

Abstract

The proliferation of social media has fundamentally transformed how individuals remember, narrate, and reconstruct their identities. Digital platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and X (Twitter) function as dynamic archives in which personal experiences are documented and revisited through posts, images, and algorithmic reminders. Drawing upon Paul Ricoeur (1991) theory of narrative identity, this study examines how social media users construct autobiographical narratives through digital memory practices. Using qualitative thematic analysis of selected publicly available social media posts containing memory-related keywords, the study identifies recurring narrative patterns such as narrative memory, identity reflection, digital nostalgia, personal transformation, and narrative identity. The study demonstrates that social media posts operate as fragments of digital autobiography that contribute to ongoing identity reconstruction. Rather than serving merely as communication platforms, social media environments act as memory mediators that shape how individuals interpret past experiences and negotiate relationships between past and present selves. The study argues that digital platforms produce persistent digital echoes of selfhood that influence autobiographical storytelling in contemporary digital culture.