Social Media and the Tattooed Generation: the Ephemeral and Permanence

Tattoos are permanent souvenirs of a digital life. As the snow falls and I zoom among email accounts, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn posts (mine and those of my clients), I am struck by how ephemeral it all is. The IMs like snow flakes melt as they form; the emails and posts slide down page by page, day by day, out of site/sight. Software and social media fads change. Hard drives crash or are thrown out for newer models. We will loose the clever posts, essays, e-dialogs, pieces of our lives. While it is wonderful to be in touch with so many people from our entire lives, the evidence is fleeting.

It is wonderful to find an old letter from a friend tucked in a book or box of stuff from a past life. Recently, my husband found a letter covered with cartoons of his college buddies and their antics, very well drawn by a friend he hasn't been in touch with in decades. But suddenly their whole world comes back with a few pieces of paper and ink.

So, it is interesting that the generation of "digital natives" is also the tattooed generation. When I see a tattoo, I think the person will regret it when s/he is "grown up" or her life changes and moves forward. When the ink fades and she no longer thinks penguins are cute or that the Steelers rule. But maybe that's the point. The tatts are permanent souvenirs of a digital life.

Below is my step daughter's tattoo on her left outer thigh. The image, which she designed herself, is a a smashup of two Pittsburgh pro team logos: the Penguins and the Steelers. It represents her loyalty to and nostalgia for a childhood lived outside the Burgh.