If my life is on my computer, then this weekend I guess you could say I lost my life.

Since my external hard drive was already filled to capacity and my laptop had a broken disk drive, I had been unable to back up my files for months (backing up regularly is good practice, by the way, if you don’t already do it). So, when I downloaded a virus that ultimately wiped out my hard drive, there wasn’t much to fall back on. I had the daunting realization that I was going to have to start from scratch.

So, I began the process of reconstructing my document, photo, video and music libraries, digging through random piles of old CDs or ancient photo disks and forgotten flash drives to see what I could salvage. And I noticed different eras of my life where I went from old fashioned technology to digital technology. The photo prints from disposable cameras disappeared after I got a digital camera, the photo CDs stopped after the iPhone and hard copies of CDs started dwindling when I got my first MP3 player.

College students today make up a generation that has seen the coming and going of several phases of technology. Without realizing it, our records have transitioned from paper and plastic to digital. Soon, all we have may be digitized and stored within the confines of a glowing screen.

Essays in grade school used to be hand-written on double-sided wide-ruled paper which was kept in a binder and lugged from class to class. Now professors almost always require typed papers. Many students even abandoned writing out notes and now type them for each class.

It seems plausible that generations to come, who are now being conditioned to use technology from infancy, may lose certain skills along the way. Most probably won’t feel the need to get a personal camcorder, since most mobile devices capture video. Most won’t need to get their hands on a camera with a manual focus or an actual attachable lens, because iPhones and iPads can auto-focus. Most won’t need to be able to burn CDs or, much less, ever have a need to use a cassette tape recorder. Most will rarely need to get physical pictures developed or will know what to do with a VHS tape.

Many think their lives are on our computers today, but it’s only the beginning. As technology grows and replaces additional things, physical copies will become more and more rare and reliance on digital databases will increase.

So, before old skills are lost completely, take a moment to be nostalgic. Hold a book, listen to a CD in a stereo, record a home video on tape, play a movie with a VCR, write a friend a letter and know  things will never be the same.