Amassed Memories in Keychain Access ⇥ pxlnv.com

Earlier this year, I linked to a Twitter discussion started by Marcin Wichary about UIs that amass memories — consider, for example, your WiFi network connection history, or the “Open Recent” menu in applications you don’t use very often.

Anyway, I’m cleaning out my Keychain right now and it reminded me of this idea. I came across login items for websites I don’t visit any more, and accounts I created for a specific purpose long ago. But I also found my login details for websites that were a huge part of my online life for a long time and no longer exist, like dznr and FFFFOUND. I have real memories tied to many of these accounts — even tangible products, in some cases: I created a Club Monaco account to buy a pair of boots that I still wear, but I haven’t used the account since.

It’s striking how something as simple as a list of websites and user names can trigger a similar level of nostalgia as, for example, a photograph.