Digital History and Future Generations

In sending an email this morning to my wife I was mentioning that I had already put a picture on Facebook this morning. At that point I began to wonder about our digital life representations and expectations. Pictures are a form of communication and posting to Facebook, or sending in a text message to someone, is one way of expressing that communication. The question becomes one of how do we share in the future?

I watch as people take out phones, tablets, and such, to show off pictures, however how do we pass them along to future generations? Is there a BIG cloud photo album that we can sign up and then let only family in? Or is it Facebook with family and friends our big photo album in the sky? How will that work?

I wonder if Mark Zuckerberg will read this and come up with an answer?

I know the pictures we are taking with our phones these days are superior to most we took with instamatic's in the 80's. We do not have to pay for processing and printing. In our house we still have drawers of photographs but nothing recently.

On another note the same thing with books and writing's, how do we pass along the Kindle purchases? What about the hand-me-down library of the past? Of course the big questions was/is will the recipient of my treasure's of Robert A. Heinlein or Isaac Asimov books move anyone to want to read them? Some of them to me were like reading the bible. Unfortunately the people of tomorrow will be living the life they only dreamed of.

What of my great books by Anthony Robbins, Zig Ziglar, and Jim Rohn? How about my collection of social history, the books about creating a new world? Will they go unread? Yep!

I do not believe that the digital world is a throw away world, or even one of instant renewal. And I do not believe that it is a disposable world however those could be possible outcomes.

I have those old pictures of great grandad but who was he? "Yep, that's him, my great granddad." I can see the excitement - for about 3 seconds and then on to someone of more notoriety (Mark Zuckerberg for instance).

We can believe what we want about out treasures but they are still OUR treasures. That goes for the pictures and the books and the clothes, and in some cases, the furniture.

My suggestion? Sell them now and spend the money. Go on a vacation, See the world. Live an example of what others after you should do.

Put all you pictures on DVD's, USB drives, whatever, and give them out each major holiday once a year - to everyone you want to have them. Then they can share them on.

See what happens when I sit alone with a keyboard. I need more coffee. As I sit here at my iPad writing

I wonder how far these digital words will go?