Ephemeral: Transitory or short-lived. From Greek via Latin, “lasting only for a day.” The earliest sense of “ephemera” in English (1528) was medical: a fever that lasted a single day. The adjective “ephemeral” also originally applied only to diseases. “Ephemerality” was first documented in 1822.
Ephemerality is newly in vogue—indeed, it’s “the new buzz word” among some startup founders and investors, according to Forbes writer Parmy Olson—thanks to mobile applications that cause photos (Snapchat) and messages (Gryphn, Frankly, Wickr) to self-destruct* after a defined time period.
Wickr logo. From the home page: “The Internet is forever. Your private communications don’t need to be.”
In a December 22 column for the Wall Street Journal, technology writer Farhad Manjoo calls Snapchat “the most important technology of 2013” because it “provides a sense of liberation from the constraints of a permanent record.” Manjoo asks whether we want “an erasable Internet”:
That question is exactly why Snapchat is so important, because before Snapchat, the Erasable Internet wasn’t an option. The Forever Internet seemed the only way. Now, with users, investors, and engineers rushing to ephemeral-data apps created in Snapchat's image, forever-ness isn’t assumed.
“Apps that make data ephemeral are going to be used with increasing frequency,” says Lee Raine, director of the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project, “because people are beginning to recognize that the context of a post can be misunderstood, and it is better to have more control over exchanges and not risk the possibility that content stays out there and causes problems down the road.” (Source: Communications of the ACM.)
* According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, “self-destruct” was “apparently first attested in the U.S. television series ‘Mission Impossible’ (1966).” However, “self-destructive” has been around since the 1650s.