Vanishing Traces: Evolution of Autobiographical Practices on the Internet

This article analyses one of the many directions of change in online autobiographical practices, i.e. the decrease in the importance of autobiographical content preservation and archiving with the simultaneous increased popularity of ephemeral content, e.g. that which is automatically deleted after a single viewing. This trend in autobiographical digital practices is illustrated with significant examples of new media formats such as homepages, blogs as well as entries on the social media platform Facebook and the application Snapchat. The article enumerates stages of change with reference to various communication tools, but it should be noted that the evolutionary process is continuous and its stages overlap. The indicated direction of change in online autobiographical practices, determined by the developmental realities of new media, is analysed in connection with processual media theory, as well as the concept of an ephemeral turn in a digital environment.