By Jasmin Mudiay
In a recent TikTok, creator MattVandrick raised a fascinating question: What’s one thing that’s disappeared over the years without people really noticing? The answer: ownership.
Today, most of what we “buy” is actually rented through services or subscriptions. From music to movies, even books, our libraries are now streamed monthly, everything BUT owned. If a song or film is removed from a platform, complete loss of access poses itself entirely. This shift challenges the idea of public record, as we’re increasingly dependent on corporations to archive and dictate our shared history.
Take the fashion world, for instance. Figures like Jay Jaxon, the first American and first black man to head a French couture house, have been overshadowed in the public eye due to selective documentation. Instead, we’re often presented with a rewritten history that doesn’t fully reflect the truth, with endless pioneers like Jaxon barely acknowledged.
Remember once upon a time we learned that Christopher Columbus discovered the Americas in 1492? Fast forward we now know the Indigenous people inhabited these lands with culture and history of their own. So, how exactly do you preserve your reality in a world where history can easily be altered or erased? Here are a few habits to adopt to start building your personal archive:
1. Vinyl or CDs: Collect physical copies of your favorite musical albums to have forever.
2. Printed Photos: Print or develop photos; create albums or scrapbooks with descriptions.
3. Journaling: Write down your thoughts, memories, and significant moments with dates!
4. Record Videos: Document everyday moments and save them offline.
5. Interviews: Capture stories from older family members to pass down. Capture the people you love in real time!
In the end, these practices not only preserve history but also keep our memories grounded in truth—not in algorithms.