Woman explains how we are living in a 'digital dark age' and shares its long-term effects

Since the inception of the internet, it has been constantly updated with new content and information every day. With the rise of smartphones and social media, this influx of content on the internet drastically increased. It's almost astounding how much content people share on their social media accounts. People would think that with so much content, it would be easier for future generations to look through these photos and videos to understand who we were. However, this is far from the actual reality of things, according to Daisy Bow, a PhD research student in craft and social media–who goes by @daisybow_craft on TikTok.

Bow shared a viral video that currently has 1.4 million views, where she talks about how we are living in a "digital dark age." The video is a stitch with Carly Incontro (@carlyincontro) and begins with the woman lying on the bed and a text overlay reading, "The fact that we only have old sh***y pictures of our older ancestors. But once we are old and gone, they'll be able to hypothetically watch hundreds of videos and pictures of us and get a glimpse of our personalities." The video cuts and we see Bow stating how future generations would most likely not be able to view any of this content because we are in a digital dark age.

She explains, "Which means that we're producing so much information, but they're so unstable because it's dependent on the device and the cloud and electricity." Bow wonders how people could access her Instagram a century from now with so many variables. Even if they manage to access her Instagram, what exactly they would do with it remains unclear. She finally questions if Instagram will even exist 100 years from now.

The woman points out how she did not "own" her Instagram account. In fact, nobody actually owned their social media accounts. Cloud backups have become very common, but they are not easy to access all the time. The future of backup cloud storage was also uncertain. She asks her viewers, "Who's going to access our iCloud photos after we die?" Bow concludes the video by sharing how people had not given this issue much thought and how it was scary to think about.

Bow's insights on the state of digital content were quite interesting and alarming for people on the site, so they shared their thoughts about it in the comments section. @aislingthegreat said, "At a minimum, people need to be regularly backing up their photos on an external hard drive or something, don't rely on the cloud to save them for you!" Another individual, @elliebleach, presented a useful suggestion: "PSA: Once a year, I select 100 photos from my phone and print them out because I'm scared of the internet disappearing." @amandajaneheather said, "Back when digital was just coming up, I scanned hundreds of family photos and then threw them out because it saved space. Regret it!!"

@cmcbride_69 expressed, "I still print out pictures just because I loved looking through photo albums when I was little and making my kids swipe on a phone won't feel the same." While digital photos and cloud backups have invariably become a big part of our lives, many think it is best to have a few physical backups in case something goes wrong with the internet.