It’s that time of year: young people everywhere are leaving home to start college or begin new jobs.
For many who have lived at home with parents and carers all their life, this moment is a huge step. Moving out of the family home and into a dorm or share-house marks an important milestone where a child transitions to adult almost overnight.
Often, parents and carers can feel a little left behind (not to mention worried!), but the milestone can also be daunting for young people. While the prospect of living independently is thrilling, with great power comes great responsibility! And that means bills, chores — and all the self-motivation and management that goes with the territory.
With such momentous change on the cards, it’s the perfect time for any young person to begin creating their online legacy.
Why an online legacy matters
Those of us whose late teens and early twenties are behind us know that the memories from that time are great fun to look back on — but quickly fade. We might only remember snippets at best. Sometimes, a friend or memento we might stumble across can jog the memory a little more. But otherwise, time is left to erode the memories of what was one of the most exciting and adventurous learning periods of our lives.
To stop that happening, a Memories Timeline is the ultimate tool. Not only does it let young adventurers capture important moments, like packing up their room for the move, moving day itself, and settling into their new, adult life, but it also lets them share those moments with the people who matter most: family and close friends.
Memories is a closed network — it’s not public like Facebook and similar social media sites. That gives you complete control over who sees your Timeline, and what they can do on it. For example, the young adult moving interstate to take up their first full-time job could give mum, dad, brothers and sisters comment access. Then, they add photos and videos of important events, the family back home can share the moment and provide support, encouragement, and their own reflections, too.
If you think that sounds like a fun way to stay close and connected even across long distances, you’re right. Since it’s a closed network, you can share all the old family jokes and gossip without worry that unwanted viewers might see your banter. It also avoids those awkward “Why don’t you ever call?” conversations, as everyone can check in on the Timeline around work and social commitments, when it suits them.
The Timeline also forms the basis of an enduring digital legacy that the young adult can add to over their entire lives. This way, they can tell their own story, their way, as it happens. In decades to come, they’re going to look back on those memories with fondness and maybe a little nostalgia — but they’ll also be able to see how far they’ve come, and how their life, while it’s probably not what they initially predicted, has shaped them into an amazing human.
If they don’t start that legacy now, they’ll miss one of the most important parts: their first steps as an independent adult.
“Where are they now?”
One other way to mark the advent of adulthood as a young person leaves home is through a future letter. This is a letter we can write now, and schedule to have delivered back to ourselves in 1, 5, or 10 years time — whenever we like.
Many young people write letters at important moments like this, either to remind their future selves of where they came from and what mattered, or to give their future selves advice and support.
Our favourite way to do this is with futureme, the future letters service that has delivered more than 11.5 million letters over the last 20 years, and has 6.5 million scheduled to send in future. Many future-letter writers say the service helps them reflect, check in on progress, and set goals, so it’s the perfect way for a young person on the cusp of adulthood to create a vision for the life they want to lead — and give themselves an amazing, nostalgic surprise years from now.
Take the next step — and remember it forever
If you are, or you know, a young person who’s about to leave home and strike out on their own, check out Memories.net and futureme.org. Together, these services provide a digital time capsule for what is one of the most important moments in anyone’s life. Don’t let the opportunity to start a life-long digital legacy pass you by.