Social media ‘Memories’ can be painful for survivors of gender-based violence: study
Global News
Dr. Nicolette Little examined Facebook Memories -- or 'social media ghosts' -- from the perspective of survivors of gender-based violence.
Seeing a photo from years ago pop up on your phone might be a positive reminder for some people, but for others, it can be problematic or even painful.
Research done at the University of Calgary — as part of a larger study on gender-based violence activism in Canada — took a deeper look at how Facebook Memories affected survivors of gender-based violence.
Dr. Nicolette Little, who is now a lecturer in the University of Alberta’s Media and Technology Studies program, conducted interviews with about a dozen people for a qualitative study, recently published in Feminist Media Studies.
“Because I’m an intersectional researcher, I also wanted to try to get people of different backgrounds, maybe class backgrounds, gender identity, just to speak to the experience from their perspective of having these social media ghosts come up,” Little told Global News.
Facebook’s Memories launched in 2015, assuming most people would enjoy the lookback. But, for survivors of gender-based violence, seeing previously posted photos of an abusive former acquaintance, relative or intimate partner can be traumatic.
“It was the disruption that these social media ghosts — or images that came up from the past — was having on the participants,” Little said. “Some of them were experiencing outright panic attacks: their stomach would get sick, they’d get sweaty, they’d have heart palpitations when an image of someone who’d abused them in a past relationship came up on their social media.”
“This was worsened when they’d blocked or deleted the individual as a friend because in those scenarios, they’d thought they’d had control and had taken care of the issue, but then these algorithms were still popping up the images of these past problematic partners.”
She explained the abuser could still show up in Memories even if the survivor has unfriended or blocked them.
Canada now requires a front package nutrition symbol on many products high in sugar, sodium or saturated fat to help consumers make healthier choices.
In one notable case, a Toronto lawyer is facing a criminal contempt of court proceeding after including cases invented by ChatGPT in her submissions earlier this year.
Crude oil prices will hover around US$58. per barrel in 2026, according to the latest energy price forecast from consulting firm Deloitte.
The pill was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration last month, a boon to Novo Nordisk as it looks to regain ground lost to U.S. rival Eli Lilly.
More water restrictions will be part of the 'new reality of water usage' warned Mayor Jeromy Farkas, as the city provided an update Monday on the rupture of a major water main.
'This decision protects children, respects families, and rebuilds trust in public health,' Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in a statement.
To date, there have been six confirmed cases of chronic wasting disease in B.C. after it was first detected in B.C.'s Kootenay region in 2024.
In the week ending Dec. 20, one in four (25.6 per cent) of every influenza test conducted in the U.S. came back positive, the U.S. CDC said.
As of Dec. 29, Health Canada had received nine submissions seeking approval to make semaglutide, the active ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy.
The B.C. Ministry of Transportation says Highway 16 linking Prince Rupert to communities in the east including Terrace has been shut in both directions due to flooding.
Time blindness has sparked a social media debate: Where is the line between a genuine condition and someone who is disorganized or just plain rude?