Photo Album History is Disappearing

A few days ago I was looking through some old boxes and came across a group of old photo albums. I wiped off the dust and shook off the dirt and read the insignia by my great-grandmother's hand - MY FAMILY. As I flipped through the pages I was greeted with faces that resembled my children, my parents, and me. I was happy to see my grandmother being born, my mother in diapers, and my Aunt and Uncle fighting over a chair at the dinner tables. It was neat sharing these old photos with my kids and for them to be able to see how we are much different than the older generations.

Is this going away?

When our kids grow up will they be able to plug in our thumb drives or access our hard drives and look at themselves growing up? Will they be able to play the DVD's or the VHS Video cassettes and show our great grandkids what it was like way back when in the 2000's?

I fear that the answer to these questions are no. As I sit and look at the dusty stack of VHS tapes in the corner of my garage I realize I have no way to play them. The multicolored disks that I use to carry around won't even fit into my computer because there's no slot to use the. How long ago were these things important and viable to my life…. Years ago, 7, 10? In 50, 60, 80 years I fear they will be prehistoric "things" that nobody will understand how to gleam the knowledge from them.

So yes, I think this IS going away. Please print out your pictures and keep them in a format that can endure the ages. Don't let the kids forget that there were great people in the past, and they were related to them.

How can we make sure this doesn't happen?