Don’t Leave Your Family Photos Behind When Jumping the Gap

Posted by Richard Lippert on

Don't Leave Your Family Photos When Crossing the Analog-to-Digital Divide

Humankind has devised numerous ways to measure eras of time. Each includes a moment of extreme significance. For instance the use of solar, lunar and astronomical observances, association to specific religious references, or even measuring of time from the beginning of the world (the Anno Mundi calendar).

Today we mark eras of time using the Anno Domini (AD) dating system. This system seeks to divide time between before and after eras of Jesus of Nazareth. The "Common/Current Era" ("CE") and “Before Common/Current Era” (BCE) terminology is often used by individual countries desiring to adopt this international standard (ISO 8601) and do not want to make the association to specific religious references explicitly.

Analog Era (A.E.) vs. Digital Era (D.E.)

I would propose there is now a newer method in which to define eras to time. This modern method is the between eras where information is measured using physical derivatives (analog), as compared to data represented in the form of numerical values (digital). There should be no one to debate about the impact this transformation has had upon humankind.

One could debate the actual “point” in time to use as 1 D.E. In fact this same disagreement arose as like the Gregorian calendar worked it way over nearly a century to become our current day measurement of eras. However, it would seem fitting to use 1989 A.D., the birthdate of the internet as our starting point for the digital era.

Crossing Over the Digital Divide

This is 28 D.E., using the birth year of the internet as our reference point. Within the United States, at least one-third of the population have been born into or grown up within the digital era. This segment of our population has woven the digital tools and resulting societal mechanisms of connecting with one another into their daily routine, just like a duck taking to the water.  They have been labeled as Generation Y, Echo Boomers or Millennials being born between 1977 to 1994, and have fully encompassed the digital era into the fabric of their humankind.

So, how are the remaining two-thirds of the population doing with adopting the trend of moving between the analog and digital eras?

The Pew Research Center has measured the patterns of the internet and home broadband adoption since 2000 A.D. It just reported its findings; “When Pew Research Center began systematically tracking Americans’ internet usage in early 2000, about half of all adults were already online. Today, roughly nine-in-ten American adults use the internet.”

Pew Research Center Social Media 2017-01-12 

Ready to Connect

The Pew Research Center also noted, “The internet represents a fundamental shift in how Americans connect with one another, gather information and conduct their day-to-day lives.” They now report seven-in-ten Americans use social media to connect with one another, engage with news content, share information and entertain themselves.

One of the biggest uses of being digitally connected is the sharing of photos. Instagram reported in 2016 A.D. (a.k.a. 27 D.E.), its 400 million active monthly users uploaded 80 million photos every day and had shared more than 40 billion photos since its release. InfoTrends’ estimated consumers worldwide would take 1.1 trillion photos worldwide this past year with that number expected to grow by 9% in  2017 A.D. (a.k.a. 27 D.E.).

2017 is the Year to Digitize Your Analog Photos

Still with all the statistics of adoption and integration into the digital era, many find themselves straddling an ever-widening digital divide. This divide is particularly the case when it comes to their family’s personal photos taken in the analog era. Boxes of photos and albums remain in an untransformed state while individual digital readiness continues to mature and their digital footprint expands.

E-Z Photo Scan is declaring 2017 "The Year to Digitize Family Photos." Don’t let the gap between the analog era of your family photos and the new digital era to widen any further. The result may be the treasured stories they symbolize become lost forever.

The timing has never been better for families to preserve their family legacy through photo scanning. All the technology pieces are available to make the family history digital and accessible to everyone, from scanning to image restoration to cloud storage and social networks. Our team of photo digitization experts is available to share more about how you can rent or buy professional, high-quality photo scanning to bring your family photos into the digital era, right in the comfort of your home.

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