BBC Learning English.

Having thousands of photos, songs, and films available at our fingertips would have seemed amazing just a few decades ago, but how long will these files last for and be available?

Could the digitalisation of cultural artifacts now be putting a time limit on our memories?

The materials that phones and computers are made of can decay over time, impacting the data that they store.

Images can still be seen in faded photographs, but when digital data degrades, it can quickly make it impossible to even open a file.

Also, as formats and devices become obsolete, it may become impossible to read files from previous decades.

Storing information in the cloud can also present problems.

Large companies can still lose data.

In 2019, social media platform MySpace admitted losing more than 12 years' worth of users' music uploads.

The widespread use of streaming services for music, TV, and film means that people no longer own the content that they watch and listen to, they just pay for the right to access it.