People externalize their autobiographical memories by creating representations that exist outside of their minds. Externalizations often serve personal and social functions, consistent with theorized functions of autobiographical memory. With new digital technologies, people are documenting more memories than ever and are sharing them with larger audiences. However, these technologies do not change the core cognitive processes involved in autobiographical memory, but instead present novel situations that affect how these processes are deployed. Smartphones allow events to be recorded as they unfold, thus directing attention and sometimes impairing memory. Social media increase the frequency of reviewing and sharing records which reactivate memories, potentially strengthening or updating them. Overall, externalization in the digital age changes what people attend to and remember about their own experiences.

人们通过创造存在于他们头脑之外的表征将他们的自传记忆外化。外化通常服务于个人和社会功能，与自传记忆的理论功能一致。借助新的数字技术，人们记录了比以往更多的回忆，并与更多的观众分享。然而，这些技术并没有改变自传体记忆中涉及的核心认知过程，而是提出了影响这些过程如何部署的新情况。智能手机允许在事件展开时对其进行记录，从而引导注意力，有时还会损害记忆力。社交媒体增加了回顾和分享记录的频率，这些记录重新激活了记忆，可能会加强或更新它们。全面的，