Let's clear something up right away: preserving family stories does not require a podcast studio, a video camera, or knowing what a "cloud" is. The best family stories in the world have been preserved with nothing more than a phone call and the willingness to listen.
If you've been putting off capturing your family's memories because it feels too complicated, this is for you.
Forget the setup. Just start.
The biggest mistake people make is treating memory preservation like a project. They buy a nice recorder. They research interview techniques. They draft a list of forty questions. Then they never actually do it, because the bar they've set is too high.
Here's a better approach: call your mom this week. Ask her one question you've never asked before. That's it. No equipment, no preparation, no pressure.
Why phone calls work better than formal interviews
When you sit someone down for a "formal interview," they tense up. They edit themselves. They try to say the right thing. But on a phone call? They're in their kitchen, maybe making coffee, and the stories come out naturally. The format disappears, and what's left is just two people talking.
That's why phone-based story capture works so well, especially for older adults. There's nothing to learn, nothing to download, nothing that feels unfamiliar. It's just a phone call — something they've been doing their whole life.
What about recording?
If you want to record the conversation (and you should), you have a few options:
- The simple way: Put the call on speakerphone and use another device to record the audio. Low-fi, but it works.
- The easier way: Use a service like Memoora that handles the recording automatically. Your parent just answers a phone call — we take care of capturing the audio, creating a transcript, and storing everything securely.
The method matters less than the doing. A slightly crackly recording of your dad talking about his childhood is infinitely more valuable than the perfect recording setup you never use.
Start small, build momentum
You don't need to capture your entire family history in one sitting. In fact, trying to do that is a great way to burn out. Instead:
- Week 1: Ask one question. Just one. See what comes up.
- Week 2: Follow up on something they mentioned last time. "You said your father used to take you fishing — tell me about that."
- Week 3: Try a different kind of question. Instead of events, ask about feelings. "What were you most afraid of as a kid?"
Before you know it, you have a collection of stories. Not because you sat down and "did a project," but because you had conversations with someone you love.
The only thing that matters
Ten years from now, you won't care whether the audio quality was perfect. You won't care whether you asked the questions in the right order. You'll care that you have your parent's voice — their actual voice — telling you a story only they could tell.
Don't let "I'm not tech-savvy" be the reason you never start. Pick up the phone. Ask a question. Listen. That's all it takes.