Will our digital footprints survive for tomorrows generation: Preserving family data.
Updated: Aug 4
We live in an age of zettabytes of transient data. Although we store more data than ever, 95% of it is not retained. This blog asks will our personal family data such as photos be retained in the digital age? It offers advice and explores what family historians should do to preserve their research for future generations.
Creating Digital Footprints for tomorrows generations
When I last moved house it made me think about the good memories and of course, some not so good. 22 years was a long time in one house - a quarter of the average life. Yet in the reaches of history, it isn't even a pin prick. The 1901 Census reveals that Alice King aged 31, lived in my house with her 2 daughters, Doris W, aged 6 and Gladys R, aged 4. Although Mrs King is described as married, there is no record of her husband. Where could he have been I wonder? Mrs King was a shoe maker which was not surprising for Leicester given hosiery was one of the main city industries. How would the house have looked then? What memories would they have to look back on? Wouldn't it be good to know how others have lived in the same space as you? As future generations look back and research their family trees to what extent will they be able to find our modern-day footprints? While in my current house I've filled in 3 census forms. With digital indexing and storage of this information you would think this data will be readily available to our ancestors. How many people though have moved around between census returns, been missed and so the trail for future family historians will run cold? What records will exist that show who lived there between one census and another? Will those records still exist in the future?
Zettabytes of data created but the majority is not retained
Even with the age of computers, how much information will be kept? We collect and store Zettabytes of the stuff. One zettabyte is one trillion gigabytes - enormous! IDC's Global DataSphere quantifies and analyzes the amount of data created, captured, replicated, and consumed in any given year across the world [IDC website]. IDC’s latest forecast issued June 2026 says worldwide data creation will rise from 218.4 zettabytes in 2025 to 718.5 zettabytes in 2030 [IDC Report]. However, we generate far more data than we keep. Looking at the IDC statistics Humanity will create or process roughly 275 zettabytes of data during 2026, but probably retains only about 13–15 zettabytes at any particular time.
Why so much less? So for example, streaming the same film to ten million viewers creates or processes enormous quantities of data, but ten million permanent copies are not necessarily retained. Security-camera footage, temporary files, internet traffic and computer backups are also frequently overwritten or deleted. Data protection regulations, such as GDPR and the 2018 Data Protection Act, require data only to be stored for as long as necessary. [ICO] Your digital footprint with that company will be lost when you stop buying goods and services from them.
We might live in a digital age, but we also live in a digital throw away age too.
Photos lost to future generations
Photos for example, digital technology allows us to take so many, about every facet of our lives, and we store loads on our mobiles, computers and in the in the cloud. How many of these will make it into the hands of our ancestors, or in this throw away age, will the digital photos get lost as laptops or mobile phones break, and online accounts get closed?
When you die who will be able to access your life long collection of photos you so carefully stored in the cloud for security, who will have your password, be able to get through all your multifactor identification tests and biometric security? As you stop using and paying for these services they will be closed down.
As a genealogist and family historian I love to look through old photos, see Great Uncle Bill and his parents. Today though my own photo collection is digital, accessible to just me. I rarely print out photos and store them in a photo album. Our historical footprints could be less than you think.
As a retired IT Director I know how we had data archiving and deletion strategies for the companies data - it was essential not only to comply with the law, but the cost of storing it securely and processing jut becomes enormous. In these days of cyber insecurity the more data increases the risk, so its not just storing and processing costs, its risk costs which means higher insurance premiums. Companies are now destroying unnecessary data.
Lost data is not something from the past I suspect it will befrom the future too.
My assertions is that although we live in the information age - it is an information age for today and not for tomorrow. Yes certainly there will be data around and it will be saved, like the census records I discussed. We are also now much better at keeping essential data, capturing records and statistics, storing online catalogues - all this will provide a great and accessible resource for our descendants to look back. The data I think will be lost will be our day to day transient data. The one I worry bout most are personal family photos.
Minimising the loss of family data in the future
There are things you can do now that will help those left behind to manage your digital legacy. Facebook allows your page to be memorialised after you've gone which preserves your content and allows people to leave memorial messages. Ideally you will appoint someone to manage your account. You need to plan this now though. You need to give thought to your online photo libraries - consider sharing access with a loved one.
Digital Legacy Association helps prevent Lost Data
The Digital Legacy Association in the UK has more on this topic. The Digital Legacy Association advise, campaign, and raise awareness about the importance of digital assets and digital legacy planning. Along with our bank accounts, houses and sofas, we need to create a digital will that determines what should happen to our digital assets too. For more details see their website digitallegacyassociation.org
It is becoming increasingly important that everyone makes plans for the online accounts that they use and the personal photos, videos (sometimes called digital assets) etc. they contain. Making plans can help ensure that digital assets are not lost and can help safeguard someone’s digital legacy.
Quoted from: Digital Legacy Association Website
Preserving our family history data
As family historians who have spent hours researching our ancestors, we need to make sure we put in place plans to protect our research. Many of us use online services that will help to secure some of our research - but consider what happens when you stop paying your subscription or you don't log on for more than a year.
There are things we can do:
Talk to the Digital Legacy Association and consider how best you can secure your digital research
Talk to your local Family History Society about carefully documenting your research in a format that can be preserved and benefit others
Investigate whether the local archive service might be interested in your key research findings, a properly documented family history is invaluable
Use collaborative family tree websites, such as WikiTree.com and Geni.com; these will be here long after you've gone and will enable many others to continue your legacy
Talk to your next of kin and extended families, to see if they want to get involved and possibly be the future family custodian of your valuable research
Catalogue your photos and digitally share them with your family; consider a printed or digital photo album, fully annotated, that can be passed on to the next generation (the old ways are sometimes the best).
Keep more than one copy of your research in different locations, not on the same hard drive!
Maintain a tidy archive and logical research filing system, making it easy for someone to understand and pick up in your absence. Remove old stuff and any blind alley information.
Sources
IDC, Global DataSphere Forecast, 2026–2030 (June 2026), as reported by Western Digital, 24 June 2026.
Digital Legacy Association, Digital Legacy Association - Home
Information Commissioner's Office, A guide to the data protection principles, Principle (e): Storage limitation, Online Resource ICO.org.uk
