Signifying the autobiographical memory on social media a semiotic analysis of food-themed imagery on Instagram

Abstract

During the last decade, digitisation has become a pervasive influence on social culture, a trend largely due to the widespread emergence inter-alia, of the Internet, personal computers, smartphones and other devices as affordable and effective means of mass digital communication. As people spend more time online, their interactions, behaviours, sense of self and self-representation are progressively shaped and influenced by their social media engagements and the social context in which online users and their digital interactions are embedded (Framroze 2017). Social networking sites have become a principal avenue of self-expression and representation (Rettberg 2014); a digital space to share one’s unique life narrative through the use of images and words, enabling new and creative opportunities for self-expression and memory creation. One core element of our contemporary lifestyles increasingly influenced by digitisation, is that of food - the most basic and fundamental element of human nourishment and survival. Accompanying the increasing prevalence of digital media in society is the simultaneous acknowledgement of the “complex entanglements between the digital realm, and food” to the extent that food and food culture have become firmly entrenched as mainstream features of contemporary digital culture (Lewis 2018:3). As such, food-themed imagery shared within the digital space constitutes a worthwhile focus for enquiry to enhance the understanding of self-representation and autobiographical memory. This study explores the phenomena of food and food-culture and investigates how social media users utilise the online space to express their self-identity and to catalogue their autobiographical experiences and memories. To do so, I apply a semiotic analysis to a data set of online images selected from three Instagram hashtag categories. In conducting a semiotic analysis of various posts shared on Instagram, it is confirmed that food-themed images form an inherent part of a user’s self-identity and autobiographical memory. The study applied semiotic analysis to review a data set of food-themed images posted across three Instagram hashtag trends (#foodiesofinstagram, #foodmemories and #homechef). The semiotic analysis exhibited how individuals utilise food-themed digital imagery as a form of self-expression; as a platform to share, communicate and engage with memories and experiences that connotate meaningful symbolism and interpretation. Connotations included, for example, notions of wholesome, healthy and natural living (Fig. 26), cultural authenticity (Fig. 29), familial warmth and cultural familiarity (Fig. 33). These connotations were considered as an extension of a user’s sense of self and autobiographical memory. The conclusions identify how in the contemporary digital age, users’ embodied food-themed experiences and memories are being extended into the digital realm.