Second research memo finished for Lydia’s documentary. This one examines how technology shapes immigrant identity formation specifically.
Social media maintaining homeland connections while physically distant. My Russian relatives see my London life through Instagram stories. I see their lives through VKontakte posts. Creates simultaneous presence in two places that previous generations couldn’t sustain.
Dating apps as cultural navigation tools. Swiping becomes ethnic and class sorting mechanism. Profile photos and bios signal belonging to certain communities. Technology makes cultural preferences explicit rather than implicit.
Translation software as simultaneous bridge and barrier. Google Translate lets you communicate across language gaps but flattens nuance. Idioms become literal. Emotional subtext disappears. Connection happens but something gets lost.
Lydia wants this framework for documentary structure. How technology promises connection but delivers new forms of alienation. Or maybe both simultaneously.
Writing the memo clarified patterns I’ve been exploring unconsciously across five novels. Characters using technology to perform identity. To maintain connections that geography severed. To navigate cultural contexts that don’t align neatly.
My nail salon conversations with clients become data here. Influencers curating multiple identity versions for different audiences. People maintaining separate Instagram accounts for family versus friends. Technology enabling performance that feels exhausting.
The memo reached twelve pages. Probably too detailed for documentary but helped me systematize thinking.
— Writer Julia Zolotova
