Gen Z, digitized (kind of)
How one Gen Zer recalls the documentation their childhood
Hello!
After shedding some of the complexities of memory preservation onto you, lovely readers, I thought it was time for some nostalgia. To do so, we will be spotlighting one Gen Zer’s relationship to memories and their photo/video archive.
Grant Sokol was born and raised in Marlton, New Jersey in 1998. Today, he’s 24 years old and lives in Chicago. Our conversation about his family photos, videos and memories highlights the ubiquity of childhood.
Here’s what you need to know about how Grant’s memories were captured in his early life:
His dad, Barry, was more of the videographer, bringing his handheld camcorder to events like birthday parties, Grant shared
His mom, Beth, was the photographer, bringing her digital camera to any noteworthy event: “I’d say nine out of ten times, she was the one taking all the family photos,” Sokol said. Beth created and curated scrapbooks of her children’s photos
Beth and Barry are currently working on converting their old VHS tapes (yes, they still have those!) into CDs
I asked Grant some more questions about his thoughts on his family’s memory archive and Gen Z’s convenient access to digital media galleries (our smartphones’ camera rolls). Here are some of the most impactful quotes from our dialogue: (quotes edited for clarity)
Q: How do you feel when perusing your old childhood photo scrapbooks and watching old videos? What are the things going through your mind when you do that?
A: It’s very interesting. I get to see my parents or their friends or other family members, or even people in my life. Like, my grandparents have now passed and I get to see them at a younger age, at a very different stage in their life. And I really remember the last recent years. From a fashion and personality perspective, it’s funny to see what’s the same and what’s changed. I think otherwise, maybe in vain, you’re looking at yourself and you see how you’ve changed and grown. You think about what life was like, trying to put yourself back in your shoes. [I think back then] my biggest worries were what friends I was going to hang out with or what movie I was watching whereas now you may be stressed at work or so many other things.
“From a fashion and personality perspective, it’s funny to see what’s the same and what’s changed.”
-Grant Sokol, 24
Q: What are your thoughts on the way photography has changed, specifically as it relates to documenting your life and the lives of other Gen Zers?
A: On one hand, it’s awesome because, for example, people I work with and friends and others are having kids now and it’s great because it’s easier than ever to just document your kid’s life. To take a video takes us a second to save and store those memories. If I were born today and could go 24 years from now, what would have it been like to have those memories? I would have had so much more documented, I would be able to see and experience a lot of my life growing up in ways that I couldn’t now because, the effort of having to bring a camera with you all the time or so many other factors, now it’s kind of burdensome to carry [cameras] and we have smartphones on us at all times now.
On the other hand, I think something that bothers me [now] is that everyone only looks through their camera on their phone and don’t always experience things in the moment. I think we lost a bit of that. You’ll see people at concerts or sporting events with their phones out recording. That’s the gift and the curse of where we’re at now.
Grant’s brother, Blake (a friend of mine since 2019 when we both started our freshman years at USC) graciously submitted this image to What’s Past is Present on behalf of them both (Blake is on the left, Grant is on the right):
Some advice about your digital file preservation journey
I’ve compiled a brief list of photo scanning services for you to consider trying:
Apps
Adobe Scan and Photomyne are great places to start and give you plenty of options. Photomyne can even colorize black-and-white photos
All-in-one printers
While the quality of the images may not be perfect, this is a great way to scan photos so you can send them to people. If you or someone you know has a printer in their home, they may also have a scanner that came with it. You could also go to a local library, which generally offers free or fee-based scanning
Professional services
Media conversion companies and services like The Memory Montage, the Kodak Digitizing Box and ScanMyPhotos come in handy when you may just want to outsource your media archives to professionals (Read more about analog to digital conversions here)
I’d also like to invite you to, just maybe, start a conversation with your family about your ancestor’s media archive. It could be as simple as asking, “Where can I find my grandparent’s old photos?"1
What’s up with What’s Past is Present
This past week(ish) we’ve had submissions from 2007, 2008 and 2009 (yes, one of the photos is me.) Remember, you can still submit your photos and videos to be featured on What’s Past is Present’s Instagram.
What was going on in these years?
In 2007, the first generation of iPhones went on sale in the U.S.
In 2008, the first Twilight movie released in theaters. Please enjoy the photos in this December 2008 Vanity Fair piece (it was quite the time to be Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson).
In 2009, the Black Eyed Peas’ “Boom Boom Pow” was the top-performing song of the year, spending twelve weeks at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart. At its height, it was the most downloaded song in the U.S.
“I'm so three thousand and eight. You so two thousand and late” - Fergie in “Boom Boom Pow.” -Mimi
I realize families are complex and this may not be a question you can easily ask a relative, but hopefully the prompt gets you thinking practically about how you may go about storing your family’s history (images, tapes, heirlooms, etc). Cheers!