“Got My Finn Tattoo!”

Abstract

This chapter focuses on how family memories are today constructed, published and shared online. Since the 1990s, the internet and especially social media have become vital for keeping in contact with family members and friends living around the world and to share family memories with them. Instead of showcased or stored in family photo albums, shoeboxes or bookshelves, images of family photos, personal documents like letters or family heirlooms are now commonly shared on social media, especially in Facebook groups. At the same, the range of what can be considered as a family memory has broadened from cherished memory objects to embodied, embedded and sensory memories, which in some cases in all their ordinariness can easily go unrecognized. Very often, these posts will attract, besides likes and other emotional reactions, comments about similar kinds of memories and lead to long and meaningful discussions about family history. This shift also means that family memories are no longer shared only in the private sphere, but also in public with people we do not necessarily know.