LITT 14310G: Exploring Memoir and Social Media - Shapiro's Critique

This essay explores the debate on whether social media is an appropriate platform for memoir writing, drawing upon Dani Shapiro's article "A Memoir is not a Status Update." The essay argues that social media's emphasis on immediate gratification and virtual identity creation detracts from the introspective and artistic nature of traditional memoir writing. It highlights Shapiro's view that distance and reflection are necessary for crafting meaningful narratives, contrasting the fleeting pleasure of social media posts with the lasting value of memoirs. The essay concludes that while social media can alleviate loneliness and boredom, it cannot replace the profound and enduring satisfaction derived from writing a personal memoir.

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Memoir and Social Media
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author’s Note:

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The platform of social media has emerged as an indispensible part of the lives of the
individuals where they are not only being able to communicate with a wide range of people
from the different parts of the world but at the same time it provides them with a platform
where the individuals can reduce the loneliness which is the bane of the modern society
(Cardell, Douglas & Maguire, 2017). Thus, the present generation is increasingly turning
towards the various platforms of social media for their day to day activities (Freitas, 2017).
Gone are the days when the individuals used to write memoirs and as a matter of fact the
social media websites like Facebook, Twitter and others have become the place where the
unintentional memoirs of the individuals can be found (Sales, 2016). This essay will argue
about the fact that social media is not an appropriate place for memoir writing in the light of
Dani Shapiro’s article “A Memoir is not a Status Update”.
Shapiro in his article says that “It is only with distance that we are able to turn our
powers of observation on ourselves, thus fashioning stories in which we are characters”
(Shapiro et al., 2018). It is generally seen that social media provides the individuals with a
platform where they can not only interact with the other individuals but at the same time get
to know about the things which are happening in their lives (Cardell, Douglas & Maguire,
2017). Thus, it is generally seen that admist the plethora of the numerous status updates as
well as news feeds and the urge to lead a life which is appreciated as well as envied by the
other people, the individual concerned often loses track of his or her own real identity in the
desire to create a virtual identity. Therefore, it is often seen that the individuals with the

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purpose to create a virtual identity for themselves often take the help of character or
personality which are not their real ones and are just a representatives of the most popular
ones that is generally liked by the people who are a part of these online platforms. This
particular fact thus often causes the individuals to lose track of their own real personalities
and they often end up creating a fake personal for themselves which is in vogue with the
contemporary trend. It is generally seen that this creates a lot of problems for the concerned
individuals in the latter part of their lives. Thus, the author states that distance from this
euphoria is necessary for the individuals so that they not only get to know themselves in a
much better manner but at the same time to write about themselves in a more effective
manner.
Shapiro repudiating the recent trend of the use of social highlights the benefits of the
use of memoirs in the words “There is no immediate gratification in this. No great digital
crowd is liking what we do…..The gratification we memoirists do experience is infinitely
deeper and more bittersweet. It is the complicated, abiding pleasure….by doing so, turns our
small, personal sorrows and individual tragedies into art” (Shapiro et al., 2018). Thus, it can
be said that the author is of the opinion that the pleasures which the individuals derive by the
use of social media and the feel good sensations which it provides are momentary (Shapiro et
al., 2018). However, the joy of writing memoirs wherein the writer is able to convey his or
her sorrows, happiness and other emotions is much worthwhile and also the pleasurable
sensation of writing it lasts for a much longer time in comparison to the joy of writing

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messages as well as posts over the social media. Furthermore, Shapiro is of the opinion that
the pleasure as well as the joy of writing a memoir is a lifelong one to which the concerned
individual can revert back at various points of their lives to derive pleasure and at the same
time also to see the progress which they have made from their earlier selves. Thus, it can be
said that the although the various platforms of social media are very enticing as well pleasure
giving but they cannot replace the joy which one gets by writing memoirs and the social
media thus cannot be seen as a place to write memoirs.
To conclude, the various platforms have much relieved the loneliness as well as the
boredom faced by the individuals and thus it is generally seen that the individuals take the
help of these platforms to write about themselves and their lives. The urge of the individuals
to share their lives over the electronic media has given rise to the concept that the social
media is an appropriate place to write about oneself. However, as the article of Shapiro shows
social media cannot be considered to be an appropriate place about one as the pleasure of
writing a memoir is much more rewarding than writing news feeds and sharing posts about
oneself over the social media. The pleasures as well as the happiness of writing a manual
memoir are totally different from the ones of writing the various online posts and news feed.
Thus, the individuals should try to inculcate the habit of writing memoirs rather than writing
about themselves over the various platforms of social media.

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References
Cardell, K., Douglas, K., & Maguire, E. (2017). Social Media and Ephemeral Narratives as
Memoir. Mediating Memory: Tracing the Limits of Memoir, 157.
Freitas, D. (2017). The Happiness Effect: How Social Media is Driving a Generation to
Appear Perfect at Any Cost. Oxford University Press.
Sales, N. J. (2016). American girls: Social media and the secret lives of teenagers. Vintage.
Shapiro, D., Bourdain, A., Keefe, P., Carter, M., Heller, N., & Sorkin, A. et al. (2018). A
Memoir Is Not a Status Update. Retrieved from
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/memoir-status-update