For me, the switch to digital removed so much of my interest in taking or viewing photos.
We’ve got a whole shelf of photo albums in the basement. Probably 2 each from my wife’s and my childhood, then 1-2 before kids, and 6 or so raising the kids thru college. At some point, we pulled out or made copies of the ones that would mean most to each kid, and made albums for each of them. They seemed glad to receive them - no idea whether they value or even still have them.
Don’t look at the albuls often, but pull them out every once in a while. And am glad I have them. Pictures used to be taken “on occasions.” So I can see the standard pic around the table every birthday party; on x-mas morning or hunting Easter eggs; on vacation; first day of school… When we wanted to share them, I guess I prefer the dynamic of gathering around an album, compared to a laptop, tablet, or <gasp> phone.
There weren’t so many photos. Film and developing cost $. And you never knew what you would get back from the developer. So only the good shots made it to the album (unless you wanted to document that mom always cut people’s heads off, or dad always included his thumb!
Now, there is photo overload. Everyone is constantly taking photos (or video) of nothing, that I don’t even think of taking photos of “events.” Then, once taken, they just sit unorganized on whatever device.
So - in short - I prefer the old photos I have, to the newer digital images.
Some of our childhood pictures are online, and I look at them with a pang, about once a year or when someone wants to see them… My mother threw every picture into a big box in the basement, starting with her sad little wedding album in 1950, my father’s baby book from 1923 (!), school portraits, snapshots of every vacation and road trip, every friend or relative that crossed our way, every dumb black and white snapshot of cows in a field or ‘autumn leaves’. Half were eaten by mice… After she died, my brother and his wife came up to help me take stuff out to the curb for pickup, and we went through all those photos. There were some lovely portraits in there (unframed of course) and he took a bunch of the best back home with him. He had three kids who might be interested someday. How young and very happy mom and dad looked before they were married, at a booth in a nightclub! The Historical Association told me they would be interested in anything showing famous people or places… I kept some. We sorted out and sent others to people who were in the pictures with a note (‘thought you might want to have this from the Disney trip in 1972’). Most were just thrown out. I hated hated hated just throwing them out, a record of our lives. It seems so wrong! But what else to do? No one was left who would want them. I didn’t want them. No one to pass them on to, ashes to ashes, dust to dust…The funny thing is, Brother had high school pictures taken in the 70’s, really stylin’ with a glorious mullet and beginning mustache. He was always quite the social Belle of the Ball and ordered a sheet of 100 wallet-size to hand out, and his wife and I kept finding his little high school pictures all through the afternoon. It got ludicrously funny after a while and we started laughing hysterically - ‘Hey, bro, can I keep this one of you?’ (He did not think it was funny!) We could have papered a whole door with those dozens of wallet-sized school pictures.
THE PRESERVATION: I’ve worked (as a serious amateur) in genealogy for over 30 years. Yeah, there’s a fair amount of people photos in which I personally have no interest; but those people’s siblings, grandchildren, and nieces/nephews very likely do, or will in the fullness of time. I’d encourage people with the time to attach selected photos to those folks’ entries on WikiTree or FamilySearch.org. Once those photos are trashed, there is no hope of getting them back. If you don’t/can’t do it, maybe a cousin can.
THE VIEWING: about 3 years ago we upgraded our main TV to a 65 inch that has the option of a slightly-dim screensaver. I put a mix of contemporary and ancient family photos on there (particularly group photos), and visitors really enjoy it - and not just family visitors, either. It has been a great way to reminisce. And it is, on balance, nice to see pics of those who went too soon in some of the group photos.
My niece checked out a slide scanner from the library and did it herself. The scanner was very high quality and the scans came out very well. It took a lot of her time, though.
Important to identify people. Best if some effort is put into it. The carefully notated photo of a group of interesting people having fun had on the back the fantastic info: “The whole bunch of us at the beach last weekend.”
These you can throw out… Yeah, I know the genealogists will scream and have a heart attack. But if there’s nobody else in your family who would wants the pics, then they are meaningless.
I am about your age, Nansbread1. A while back I Kondo’d everything including my lifelong collection of photos; I went through everything and threw out all the pictures of people I didn’t know or don’t remember, blurry pics of landscapes, etc. That was the vast bulk of the collection, swept away.
Then I put the rest into nice albums – I only needed two. I don’t look at them often, but when I do, 100% of what I see is meaningful to me.
If you don’t go the route of digitization, you might want to ID all the people by just writing on the backs of your photos, as others here have said – your kids might be grateful for that after you’re gone.
I inherited the family photos, including a large collection from my father’s family, all without any caption whatever. Some of these appear to go back to around the turn of the 20th century or even before, and I have no idea who any of the people are. My father, when he was alive, wasn’t much help on that score, because they went back before his time.
The photos from my mother’s family are all neatly and legibly annotated on the back, at least with the people’s names and sometimes with the date.
In any case, I don’t look at them any more, but I realize that they might be of interest to future generations, so I am trying to find if there is any such interest so I can pass them on to an appropriate person. Then they can be as puzzled over my father’s family photos as I am.
I will add that we got a digital photo frame for my mom and loaded-up tons of photos of the grand-kids for her. All she had to do was find a place for the device, and turn it on - the slide show would run all day long.
I would suggest for the OP to find the photos that bring about a pleasant memory, prioritize digitizing those, and put them on a digital picture frame. Heck, even taking pictures of photos with your smart-phone provides a decent shot of old Polaroids - instant digital photo from a bygone time! These become instantly shareable using today’s technology.
Here is a related question to the OP: What do you do with someone else’s photos? My parents are gone, but among the things that came to me afterward were their photos and albums of their retirement years. We did not live near them during that time, and they had many friends and a few travels that did not involve me. I don’t know their friends from that time. I feel bad about tossing them in the trash, but otherwise do not know what to do with them.
If you recognize anyone in the photos (or you have children or other relatives who might want some) - give those folks some photos. Otherwise, they have to go in the trash. There is no other way.
My wife and I have talked about this about our own photos. We have no children. But, we have a ton of digital photos that are really only important to us (our parents are still alive and we share some with them). But, when we die, our pictures will go with us.
You can 1) do it quick - put them all in a paper bag and into the trash, like with a dead hamster or 2) have somebody else do it for you, or 3) put the pictures through a shredder or 4) if there aren’t too many, burn them in a fireplace or fire pit.
We had to clean out my mother’s house and our own house the last couple of years, and the most emotionally difficult task was getting rid of those photos.
I’m 54, and have been married for almost 28 years now. As it happens, my wife just recently has been organizing some boxes of old photos into albums. We’re both enjoying the trip down memory lane - including photos of a sea ferry ride with our young sons that neither of us has the slightest recollection of! But there we are in the photos, so we must’ve done it…