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Cited by 182Innovative Human-Technology InteractionPersonal Information Management and User BehaviorPrivacy, Security, and Data Protection

Design for forgetting: disposing of digital possessions after a breakup

Open access
Sas, Corina, Whittaker, Steve·2013·Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
DOI 10.1145/2470654.2466241
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Abstract

People are increasingly acquiring huge collections of digital possessions. Despite some pleas for 'forgetting', most theorists argue for retaining all these possessions to enhance 'total recall' of our everyday lives. However, there has been little exploration of the negative role of digital possessions when people want to forget aspects of their lives. We report on interviews with 24 people about their possessions after a romantic breakup. We found that digital possessions were often evocative and upsetting in this context, leading to distinct disposal strategies with different outcomes. We advance theory by finding strong evidence for the value of intentional forgetting and provide new data about complex practices associated with the disposal of digital possessions. Our findings led to a number of design implications to help people better manage this process, including automatic harvesting of digital possessions, tools for self-control, artifact crafting as sense-making, and digital spaces for shared possessions.

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  • Active curation is preferable to no curation from the standpoint of autobiographical remembering because unorganized collections of an abundance of data make finding relevant information more complicated and because meaning-making requires prioritizing some aspects of one's life over others.

    “In previous research, it has been argued that active curation is preferable to no curation from the standpoint of autobiographical remembering because unorganized collections of an abundance of data make finding relevant information more complicated and because meaning-making requires prioritizing some aspects of one's life over others (Kalnikait_ e et al., 2010;Sas & Whittaker, 2013;Whittaker et”

    From Understanding Autobiographical Memory in the Digital Age: The AMEDIA-Model (2024) · cites this paper as Sas & Whittaker, 2013

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Research works printed but not linked: 26

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Authors
Sas, C., & Whittaker, S.
Affiliations
  • Lancaster University (GB)
  • University of California, Santa Cruz (US)
ORCID
Venue
Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Publisher
ACM
Published
2013-04-27
Pages
1823-1832
DOI
10.1145/2470654.2466241
OpenAlex
W2160932791
Cited by
182
References
3
Citations by year
2026: 10 · 2025: 55 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 12 · 2022: 10 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 11 · 2019: 16 · 2018: 8 · 2017: 11 · 2016: 15 · 2015: 11 · 2014: 9 · 2013: 1
FWCI
9.23
Type
conference paper
Language
en
Open access
Licence
www.acm.org/publications/policies/copyright_policy#Background (vor)
Locations
  • CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (publishedVersion)
  • Lancaster EPrints (Lancaster University) (submittedVersion)
Funders
VINNOVA (2011-03460)
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Human-Computer Interaction › Innovative Human-Technology Interaction
  • Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Information Systems and Management › Personal Information Management and User Behavior
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Privacy, Security, and Data Protection
Keywords
intentional forgetting, romantic breakup, self-control, sensemaking, automatic harvesting, design implications

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