Whenever I see stories involving natural disasters, the victims almost always say losing their pictures is the worst thing since they can’t be replaced. Maybe I’m different (so I’ve been told), but I hardly ever look at old pictures. We have pictures all over the place, but if someone changed them, I probably wouldn’t notice for a very long time. I haven’t looked at a photo album in many years. Do most people make it a common habit of looking at old pictures or is it just the idea they are there?
It’s usually years between old photo viewing sessions, but can understand why losing photo albums would be especially distressing. They’re one of the few household items that no amount of money can replace (well, you can buy new empty photo albums but you know what I mean).
That’s kind of my point. If you can go years without doing something that’s real easy to do, Is it really that important?
I don’t know how upset I would be if I lost my photo.
I may not look at my photo albums very often, but I find a certain amount of comfort and connection to my past and my family from knowing those images are there if I want to look at them.
I do every so often take that trip down memory lane and look at the family pictures I have ended up with and the ones I have taken and kept over the years. Most are the only copies of those images, though I have scanned and uploaded some of them, and if they were lost they would be gone forever. That would make me sad.
If you never look at them, why do you even have them? Why would you even take them in the first place?
Every day, someone finds a new way to boggle my mind. Thank you, Straight Dope!
(And I look at my old photos all the time.)