To paraphrase the best line ever uttered in a 007 movie, the Memories feature on Facebook appears with the tedious inevitability of an unloved season.
Mercifully, they’ve tweaked the algorithm to stop people being jauntily reminded of the post they made that got a personal best of 248 reactions – when it was announcing the death of a loved one. So that’s good.
But the way it just hoovers up and regurgitates the dullest humdrum postings on their anniversaries can be a bit disheartening. Particularly when it’s stretching right back to the earliest days of Facebook expanding beyond the student market. Back then, nobody over 20 really knew how to use the site, and posts ranged from timid to dull to oh-my-hat-did-they-just-headbutt-the-keyboard. These days nobody under 20 uses Facebook for anything but checking their grandparents are OK.
Sometimes though, Facebook Memories is worth the stroll down Amnesia Lane, such as the reminder of this post that I made almost exactly a year ago. I was initially quite pleased with this photo that I took of the moon rising over Douglas Bay. I thought it had turned out to be rather beautiful.
The pale full moon, gliding through the delicate pink and gold striations of the evening sky. The Tower of Refuge standing resolutely on Conister Rock. The limpid sea, clear as a mirror.
Then I noticed that the house down the hill looks like Inspector Gadget.
And I can’t un-see it.
Mark Trevor Owen 