Late last year I upgraded my laptop. My old one was running like a pig. It took forever to open a photo file and I could have cooked a roast dinner by the time it managed to apply some changes to an image.

One nice new shiny laptop later and I graduated to running like a slow turtle, still having similar issues. It was a little frustrating and took me a while to remember that my small external hard drives that house all of my image files were themselves several years old. A lightbulb moment!

Off to the shops I went to get a newer hard drive big enough to copy some of my old files to, and still add new ones to as well. This fixed my running like a slow wet week hassles, until I was reminded this week there’s still a ton of images on some of those other old drives still. I was looking for some particular photos of a trip from a few years ago, and started the search on the older, slower drive.

I guess a bonus - and a challenge - of having to slow down is that you have time to look through things a little more closely, getting sucked into that vortex of ‘oh that’s right, I had forgotten about that day, that place, that image…’, and ‘ahhh…cool, I remember this one too…’ and ‘oh that’s where this is…’.

Searching slowly, although faster than pre new-laptop, I meandered my way through files of trips up north, photos of Christmases past with family over East, (as we say in the West 😏) photos from adventures down around the South West, reminding me ints been years since I headed that way, but of course not finding the ones from the trip I was actually looking for. This could maybe also have something to do with the way I used to categorise and store my files too.

With Lily giving me the ‘it’s late, stop playing on that I want to go to sleep’, I shut everything down and headed to bed. They must be on my phone, I thought.

When was the last time you went scrolling through the photos on your phone, and really looked at what you’ve got?

My photos go right back to my second iPhone, which was quite a few years ago so there’s a few on there. Looking for the specific photos I wanted to use in this week’s blog, I was soon distracted by the sheer volume and variety of images on it.

Photos shared by family members that I saved when now big kids were babies, photos from trips long past, quotes encouraging a happier life, positive words to uplift and motivate. Photos of long ribbon like roads that I remember driving, wishing for a few curves and corners to liven up the drive.

Weirdly, screenshots of household bills long since paid, and quick shots of ridiculously high temperatures that were my first time sweltering through. Photos from work projects, some that went ahead, some that didn’t.

Those first time somewhere photos, and photos where the only camera I had on me was my phone.

Photos of things in shops that I might want to decorate my house with, and bargains that would make my life easier.

I love that I can find when I went to a particular place, and remember those items I was thinking of buying, but never actually did. That’s almost as good isn’t it? And yet still managing to keep the money.

I’ve had some fantastic times, and depending how you think of it, Im glad they’re recorded on my phone. I’ve travelled a fair bit, my photo roll showing I’ve lived a good life so far. I’ve had lucky times, amazing trips, planned to buy some really cool stuff, and been encouraged to step out and live my life to its fullest potential.

It got me thinking….if someone from the future found my phone, and managed to turn it on and access it, what will they think of the snippets of my life, captured and documented on this little-ish electronic device?

What will they think of yours?

Oh…did I find those photos I was originally looking for?

No 🫣 I’ll have to save that story for another day…

#snippetsofalivedlife #momentsintime #capturedforever #smartphones #datedtech