By Todd Kelsey, Ph.D.
We all have those boxes stored somewhere. You know, the ones with the stack of yellow Kodak envelopes, a VHS tape labeled “ ’87 Road Trip,” maybe even a floppy disk or two. These boxes hold the stories of our lives: birthdays, graduations, vacations, love stories.
But here’s the thing: Many of our modern memories no longer live in boxes. The photos we once printed out at places like the drug store or Fox Photo now live as bytes in dozens of scattered places — Google Drive, iCloud, an old laptop, a forgotten hard drive, an ancient cell phone. Old letters that once nestled in a shoebox are now buried in email archives. The music we listen to, once held in our hands as LPs and cassettes, now floats in invisible playlists on apps we don’t really own.
Each is a piece of our life story that could vanish at the click of a button, or become irretrievable when the technological platforms they’re on become obsolete.
If you’ve ever thought, “I should organize my photos and files someday,” this guide is for you. Preserving your digital life doesn’t require expensive software or an IT degree. It just takes a little intention, a plan, and maybe a free weekend. Here’s how.
Take stock of what you have
Start with an honest inventory. Where do your memories live? Check your phone, email, social media accounts, computers (old and new), and that drawer full of USB drives. Don’t worry about organizing yet, just make a list or note where your stuff is.
The content contained on “old” media — things like slides, VHS tapes, cassettes — can still be rescued. Local camera shops (yes, a few still exist) and digitizing services (such as Southtree.com) can convert them to modern formats. Many companies will even send you a kit and a prepaid box.
Tip: A good starting point is to search online with google.com or an AI platform and type in phrases like:
- How do I convert a VHS tape and preserve it to share with future generations?
- Media conversion service near me
- How can I download all my Facebook photos?
- Gather and consolidate
Pick one “home base” for your digital life — Google Drive, iCloud, Dropbox or an external hard drive. Then start copying files from all those scattered places into one location. Think of it as creating your digital attic, everything in one place, safely stored and easy to find later.
If you’re dealing with decades’ worth of photos or documents, resist the urge to curate too early. Just gather first. You can decide what’s meaningful once it’s all visible.
Organize by story, not just by date
When you’re ready to sort, think in stories rather than strict chronology. Make folders like “College Years,” “Family Vacations” or “The Year We Got the Cat.”
The goal isn’t perfection, it’s connection. Revisiting your files can actually be fun. You’ll rediscover forgotten trips, faces, and moments that spark joy or laughter. Let that nostalgia guide what you keep. While user-friendly software can help you detect duplicates and convert outdated formats, the human judgment it takes to choose what matters will always be essential.
Add context
A photo without a caption is just pixels. Take time to add small notes, dates, or short stories alongside your media. Future generations won’t just see who was there, they’ll know why it mattered.
Even a simple filename change — “Mom_Paris_2002.jpg” — can help preserve meaning.
Want to go further? Some tools use AI to tag people or places automatically, but your words still mean more than any algorithm ever could.
Create redundancy
Here’s the golden rule of preservation (a.k.a. The Backup Rule of Three): keep at least three copies of your important files.
- One on your computer or external drive
- One in the cloud
- One offsite or with a trusted person
Hard drives fail. Passwords get lost. Services shut down. Redundancy ensures that even if one version disappears, your digital life doesn’t.
Share access
Don’t let your stories die behind a password. Make a plan for loved ones to access your digital archive. A 2024 survey by the Digital Legacy Association found that fewer than 20% of people have shared their account info or preservation wishes.
Create a simple document listing your main accounts and instructions on how to access them, and store it securely. Or use a digital legacy tool; many cloud platforms now offer them.
This isn’t just about technology, it’s about love and continuity.
Print what matters
In an age of pixels, there’s something powerful about paper. Printing a few cherished photos or letters gives your memories physical permanence. They don’t require a password, and they can be held, passed and shared. Sometimes, the best backup is that old shoebox.
The future of digital memory
If you’ve ever found yourself missing the tactile click of a cassette player or the hum of a dial-up modem, you’re part of a generation that experienced technology as something you could hold. That physicality gave memories a kind of permanence that’s easy to take for granted.
Preservation projects like Digital Vellum are exploring ways to protect humanity’s digital heritage, ensuring that files created today can still be read 100 years from now. The ultimate goal? To save not just the data but the meaning behind it, making sure that future generations can still see us, hear us, and understand the context of the lives we lived.
Because someday, someone will open a file or a photo you saved and hear your laughter, see your handwriting, or read your words. And they’ll understand who you were.
The time to start is now. Your family will thank you.
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Todd Kelsey, Ph.D., is an author and researcher collaborating with Internet co-founder Vint Cerf on the Digital Vellum Project, a global initiative to preserve humanity’s digital heritage.