This week we want to feature Leah Loughran's second smallish post. You can find the original post here.
"Today, when we research our family history, we find great
joy in discovering an ancestor’s name simply listed on an old census.
Imagine what it could be like for our descendants in 100
years. Your children’s children’s children could be reading your blog archive,
flipping through the thousands of photos and videos you’ve captured on your
smartphone, and analyzing the meaning behind those passive-aggressive updates
you’ve shared on social media sites.
In the digital age, we’re able to easily and almost
thoughtlessly create an intricate record of our daily lives. Someday, that
record may very well be studied by our ancestors. Will they find as much value
in our terabytes of political arguments and HD photographs of food as we do in
the single journal page of our long-lost ancestor we shed tears over today?
Today, we carefully extract every last drop of information from our few
glimpses into the past, but in the future, we may just be trying to wade
through all the junk."
What do we like about this post? First of all, the idea is original. While many of the posts were very similar, this one talked about something nobody else did. It went beyond summarizing the articles, and even beyond just giving the author's opinion on how cool family history is. It provides legitimate commentary by asking what this technology could mean in the future. Also, the example of somebody flipping through thousands of photos and videos provides support for this proposed idea of the future.
The final sentence gives a nice conclusion to the idea presented in the post. It ties together the examples of modern family history and future family history, and it leaves the reader with something to wonder about.
Good job, Leah!
