Written by: Scarlett
Last week, I was talking with a friend about how people use Instagram differently now. We both noticed that nowadays, people post even less on their main feed and instead share instant, casual stories that disappear in a day. According to a 2024 Pew Research survey, more than 70% of Gen Z social media users prefer stories or short-lived posts over permanent ones. It seems that for us, being real for a moment feels better than being perfect forever.
Compared to traditional posts that stay on our profiles, stories disappear after 24 hours, yet they capture something more honest and spontaneous. A late-night snack before studying, a screenshot of funny meme, or a blurry concert clip all become fragments of what we call digital memory. Even though stories vanish quickly, many of us choose to archive them based on our moods, saving the moments that feel meaningful, even if we didn’t plan to. We are archiving our lives in motion, not as finished works but as living traces. What’s interesting is how this “temporary” sharing has become a form of emotional documentation. For Gen Z, it’s not about showing off a polished perfect life anymore, but about sharing a feeling in the moment. The disappearing nature of Stories actually makes them feel more authentic. We no longer need to stage our happiness; we just need to record it before it fades.
By 2025, digital media is no longer just a cold algorithm but has become a emotional landscape, every story, post, or short video is tagged with feelings: joy, embarrassment, excitement, or nostalgia. In this case, digital media is less about data and more about emotional memory, a mirror of how we feel in real time.
Still, this constant recording changes how we experience life. Some argues that constantly recording life through social media Stories blurs the line between living and performing. Every small moment — a sunset, a meal, a laugh — seems to carry the quiet question: “Is this worth sharing?” Our memories are now shaped by what the algorithm decides to show back to us, creating a loop where living and recording blur together. In this way, memories are not purely personal anymore; they are shaped by algorithms and the expectations of an audience. The pressure to curate moments may change how people experience life itself, turning spontaneous experiences into content to be evaluated.
However, when I scroll back through my old instagram story archives, I see not just photos but versions of myself — different moods, friendships, and places. Maybe that’s what digital memory really means for Gen Z: not storing data, but preserving moments of becoming. Stories fade, but together they build our collective diary, a living record of how we feel, change, and connect. In this way, we’re not just users of digital media, we are the storytellers, turning fleeting seconds into traces of who we are becoming.
References:
- Pew Research Center. (2024). How Gen Z uses social media: Preferences for short-form and disappearing content. Retrieved from https://www.pewresearch.org/
- Baym, N. K. (2015). Personal connections in the digital age. Polity Press.
- Abidin, C. (2021). Instagram and the culture of visibility. Oxford University Press.
- Leaver, T., Highfield, T., & Abidin, C. (2020). Instagram: Visual social media cultures. Polity Press.