In my last post, I talked about how my photo organizing company helps seniors organize, maintain, and pass down their photo collections.
Millennials have unique gifts that makes working with them different than assisting seniors, but both groups are wonderful in their own ways!
My children, and my client’s children, are from the “millennial” generation, which typically means they were born between 1980 and 2000.
In this post, we’re going to talk about how working with the younger crowd is different, why I love working with them, and discuss the most important lessons and advice I want to share with millennials about preserving their photo collections.
How Working with Millennials Is Unique
1. The millennial generation takes lots of pictures.
Millennials have had smartphones most of their lives, so they’re used to having cameras in their pockets at all times.
Their friends, their pets, buildings, funny moments, food, new hairstyles, new cars, new outfits – they are all worthy subjects for photos. They like taking selfies, and they know how to pose for the camera. Many millennials even have a “go-to pose” that they use in all their photos!
2. They are comfortable with technology.
Adapting to technology is a no-brainer for most millennials, because technology has always been a part of their lives. Unlike older generations, they are not intimidated by technology, and they are willing to jump in and learn something on their own if they need to.
Their photo collections are often kept on their phones and synced with a library system like Google or Apple’s Photos program. They may spend time organizing their photos in albums, but are more likely to do a quick search to find what they need.
My children and their spouses/fiancées don’t hesitate to try new apps for their phones or computers – they are fearless, and they learn quickly. Without question or hesitation, millennials use technology to make purchases, control the television, or search for things on their phone and computers.
This fearlessness and knowledge benefits me in my work as a professional photo organizer, because members of the younger generation have taught me a lot of shortcuts for navigating my computer and editing photos!
3. Millennials use social media and technology largely as a way to stay in touch.
Communication and connection are the name of the game for millennials. They share photos via text messages and social media sites, save photos on their devices, and create collages of their favorite images.
Most millennials have profiles on multiple social media sites. They visit these sites several times each day, and post photos to their profiles on a regular basis.
4. They are adventurous and have a strong sense of community.
Millennials like to travel, and they have a strong sense of local and global community that gives them a wanderlust to see the world.
They have confidence in themselves and their potential to influence the future. The world is their oyster, and they are eager to make a difference.
Members of this generation often photograph themselves, the community, and their surroundings with an appreciation for the cultural and social differences they experience. With airline ticket deals and affordable accommodation options like Airbnb, they can see the world on a budget and have travel experiences that today’s seniors only dreamed of when they were in their twenties.
Dining out is often an opportunity for a new, sometimes exotic experience. Millennials like to take pictures of their meals and share them on social media….after all, a photograph of food has a story to share, too!
5. Millennials can be impatient.
The millennials are sometimes called the “we want it now” generation, so they can be impatient when things move slowly. On-demand services like Amazon, Google, and Uber contribute to that sense of impatience, because so many things they need are available within seconds or minutes.
What I Want to Tell Millennials About Their Photos
Because issues for millennials are very specific (and those issues don’t necessarily apply to seniors or people who are middle-aged), there are certain lessons and tips about photos that I consistently share with younger people. These lessons are:
Lesson 1: Remember that your photos are part of your legacy.
Even if you aren’t in a committed relationship, and even if you don’t have kids, photos are part of your legacy! You should be good stewards of your images and videos, and make sure you always value the stories they have to tell.
Your photo collection needs to be preserved, so future generations can enjoy seeing the moments you’ve worked so hard to capture over the years.
Lesson 2: It’s critical that you back up your photos and videos regularly, to ensure your favorite moments aren’t lost.
As I seek to understand how millennials take and share images, I’ve found that having simple resources for organizing, maintaining, and backing up is a priority for you.
The most important message I convey to this generation is the importance of backing up your photos. As a millennial, you tend to be frugal, living on a budget and only buying what you need. Spending additional money to back up your smartphone photos isn’t typically a financial priority.
You typically don’t worry about whether you have originals or optimized versions backed up. Just knowing that your photos exist “somewhere” is good enough for you, and many of you haven’t needed to pay attention to whether or not your photos are secure – until you learn the importance of good backup systems “the hard way” by losing your photos.
Because of these issues, setting up a backup system for millennials must be easy, fast and affordable.
As I’ve talked about before on this blog, syncing photos between devices doesn’t really qualify as a backup. A backup is an additional copy of photos that’s stored separately from the originals of the photos.
Setting a backup system to automatically save photos from an external hard drive and a computer is typically only $5 per month, which is less than you probably spend on coffee each month! You can check out step six of this post for more information on setting up a simple, fast, affordable backup system for your photos.
Lesson 3: Be careful about the photos you share with others.
As a millennial, you are probably very casual about your photos, because you’re sharing images and videos constantly in your daily life.
But please remember that the photos you take now may not be the ones you will want to keep in the future – especially if the images are compromising shots of you having crazy adventures with friends.
Before you share a photo with a friend or on social media, consider whether you would want the image to be publicly available in a few years. Once compromising or embarrassing images are posted online and publicly available, removing them next to impossible.
Getting the Message to Millennials
Millennials are a joy to work with as a photo organizer, but it’s important that you embrace the concept of having a photo legacy, set up a consistent backup system for your photos, and be careful about the photos you share publicly.
Do you know a millennial who could use a reminder about these important lessons? Share this post with that person via social media or email! You can use the buttons in the header and footer of this post to pass on this article. Thanks!