I’ve started to post to Instagram Stories semi-regularly, and am sharing today’s story here. I’m sharing it here because it will have disappeared from Instagram within 24 hours, and like so many of the specific memories of my experience will be lost.

I’ve used DayOne to keep a journal in the past—and might start using it again, at some point after they enable audio/video entries. As a kid, I would write from time to time. Since starting to write regularly here, I treat this as my public journal and way for me to think aloud about things that matter both in fleeting and substantial ways.

After posting snippets of my day to Instagram Stories, I thought how great it would be if Instagram enabled permanent archiving/exporting of these stories. In an instant, Instagram would become a visual diary for countless people who otherwise would probably never keep a record of their lives. And that would be a gift for them in years to come, and maybe too for the children and others.

I think the internet is pernicious to the extent that it participates in the “tyranny of now,” that habit of thinking that whatever is unfolding is the most important thing. The more that parts of the internet can be reclaimed as something closer to an archive and library, the better.

That’s the sort of internet I try to contribute to.