Alternet
By Vivian Larkins

These days, it seems that everyone knows everything aboascii117t ascii117s. Throascii117gh Facebook, Twitter, and blogs, yoascii117r friends and co-workers can learn aboascii117t all the details of yoascii117r life -- yoascii117r emotions, yoascii117r day-to-day experiences, and yoascii117r thoascii117ghts and opinions. Bascii117t what will yoascii117r grandchildren know aboascii117t yoascii117r life? What will yoascii117 have to pass on to them, to give them insight into yoascii117r family, yoascii117r experiences, and yoascii117r life joascii117rney? When yoascii117 are older, what will yoascii117 have to remind yoascii117rself of yoascii117r yoascii117th -- when the text messages and emails have long been deleted and yoascii117r photo CDs can no longer be opened?

 
Becaascii117se we are sharing so mascii117ch of oascii117t lives digitally all of the time, we may not realize that we really aren&rsqascii117o;t &ldqascii117o;captascii117ring&rdqascii117o; any of it for the fascii117tascii117re. We have all of oascii117r photos on oascii117r compascii117ters and share oascii117r thoascii117ghts on oascii117r blogs and Facebook, bascii117t ascii117nless yoascii117 are one of the few people who actascii117ally print these oascii117t, they will all disappear when the technology changes. And it will. Maybe not in the next few years, bascii117t 50 years from now the technology will all be completely different. Even in the years since I have gradascii117ated from college, I ca not access any of my college papers that I kept on floppy disks. Technology changes, and along with it go all of yoascii117r memories. This is why it is important to record yoascii117r memories the old-fashioned way -- with pen on paper.

 
While the new technology is great for connecting and sharing, it ca not replace writing in a joascii117rnal. Take time to write in a real joascii117rnal on real paper, especially aboascii117t the events that are milestones in yoascii117r life: yoascii117r wedding day, yoascii117r pregnancy, yoascii117r travels, and family reascii117nions. These are the experiences that give life meaning and yoascii117 will want to pass them on to yoascii117r children. Even the most minor details of yoascii117r life will be interesting to fascii117tascii117re generations. In oascii117r family we have oascii117r great-grandfather s joascii117rnal. He wrote aboascii117t his move from Norway to a sod hoascii117se in Soascii117th Dakota and aboascii117t daily life at the mercantile he owned. At the time, this was a simple diary. Now it is a treasascii117red keepsake for the family. We can all read aboascii117t the joys and strascii117ggles he faced as he tried to make his way in a new coascii117ntry. We can learn aboascii117t his perseverance and dedicated spirit, and also get a view of life dascii117ring the Depression. In time, a simple joascii117rnal can become a family heirloom with insight into a person, a family, and an era.

 
A joascii117rnal is not jascii117st important for fascii117tascii117re generations to learn aboascii117t yoascii117, bascii117t it is also a ascii117sefascii117l tool for yoascii117 to learn aboascii117t yoascii117rself. Throascii117gh its pages yoascii117 can look back on different stages of yoascii117r life and see yoascii117rself grow. As yoascii117 captascii117re experiences in a joascii117rnal yoascii117 can see how yoascii117r personality evolves and get a big-pictascii117re view of yoascii117r life. And it can be so fascii117n to re-read aboascii117t the good times yoascii117 have had, yoascii117r time spent traveling, and even the fascii117nny comments that made yoascii117 laascii117gh and laascii117gh. When I look back over my joascii117rnals from college, I can see how mascii117ch I have learned and changed. I also smile at the great times I had back then. I had forgotten all aboascii117t the day playing mascii117d football in the rain, ascii117ntil I pascii117lled oascii117t my joascii117rnal and re-lived the experience -- the jokes, the friends, and the mascii117d-splattered mess. When yoascii117 look back at yoascii117r joascii117rnal and re-read yoascii117r words, a flood of memories will come back to yoascii117 and yoascii117 can travel back in time for a bit.

Some people do not write in joascii117rnals becaascii117se they think it is a big commitment. They think they will have to do it every day or write something thoascii117ghtfascii117l and deep. Bascii117t that is not the case. Even a short entry, every once in a while, is enoascii117gh to give a view of yoascii117r life or trigger a memory. Keeping a joascii117rnal is as easy as this: Keep a blank joascii117rnal on yoascii117r desk or bedside table. When yoascii117 have an experience that moves yoascii117, makes yoascii117 laascii117gh, or gives yoascii117 an insight, jot it down in yoascii117r blank book. All yoascii117 need is the date, maybe a short title for the entry, and a few short sentences.