Old photographs which are physically stored in an album face the danger of fading away with time. Old documents may become frayed and get torn. There is a great danger of wear and tear. In comparison, proper protection and maintenance of data storage devices ensures the longevity of memories.
Protection and Maintenance: It is imperative to maintain data storage devices. These can be internally built within the computer or external from the computer. They can be portable or bulky in nature. But all data storage devices cease to function properly if there is a fault in their maintenance.
Data storage devices need to be cleaned regularly with gloved hands. One must never handle data storage devices with oily fingers.
A user must always ensure that the device is not thrown from a great height. The user must not holiday with the device.
Always wipe the device with wet-dry tissue cloth to keep it free of dust and pollutants.
Keep the device away from pets to avoid chewing and urination.
Always run virus scans before opening the digital device in a PC.
Always check your power and network connections.
Data Saved: The type of data saved is dependent on the type of storage media. CDs are used to save audio-visual material. In addition, data relevance and user characteristics also determine type of data that is saved. Research shows that multinational corporations which outsource labour, capital and data tend to save employee records, monthly and annual financial statements, performance review tables and mission statements.
Manufacturing companies can be classified as small manufacturing enterprises and medium scale manufacturing firms. These organisations save:
Company S.W.O.T. analysis
Profit and loss accounts and statements
Production figures, techniques and processes
Employee details
Financial institutions and retail outlets along with wholesale houses save data dealing with loan accounts and future growth rate. Thus, data saved by commercial enterprises is futuristic in nature. It centres more on present needs, goals and demands. Personal users tend to save data which is past. They tend to save memories in the form of old family photographs, videos of important family events and even nostalgic songs.
My Memories: I do believe in living and remembering the past. I belong to a generation which believes that the present is most important. The present is the only time concept we have in our hands to mould and shape according to our expectations. The past has gone and is beyond our control. We cannot turn back time. So, why bother to remember it and wallow in memories?
It is a positive thing to remember past events and learn from them. But there is no plausible logic in saving memories. It is unhealthy to allow ourselves to cling to the past. Social psychologists state that there is an age to reflect and ponder on past events. Middle-aged and old couples tend to wallow in memories. These memories are usually child-specific and familial in nature. Old people tend to keep a record of all events in their child’s life. These can be birthdays, weddings, and graduation ceremonies, birth of grandchildren, birthdays and school functions of grandchildren. Such memories are usually audio-visual in nature. Some tend to even store old songs. It reminds them of a time when they were young and vibrant.
But right now, I feel that I would be wasting my time saving memories instead of creating them. My past should be a memory of my parents. But, if given the opportunity of time and money to purchase the data storage device, I would save:
Group photographs of my siblings, cousins and myself
School photographs with friends, teachers
Holiday photographs and video recordings
University research papers including PowerPoint presentations
Social psychologists further argue that it is not a positive sign for young people to save memories. Youth has to be the time of achieving milestones. It should be that chapter of life where one is creating pleasant and unpleasant memories. They state wallowing in memories also tends to bring about stunted mental and emotional development. People would still want to cling to the past and refuse to move on. They may refuse to accept changes in personal and professional lives. Young people do take photographs but do not save them digitally.
Thus, the issue of saving memories and past events has two sides. On the one hand, commercial enterprises spend billions to refine methods of saving relevant data. On the other hand, personal users tend to think that saving memories when young is unhealthy and regressive.
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