Sitting with a bunch of old photographs and going through them is a favourite pastime for most people. After all who doesn't fancy a trip down memory lane. Every time I go through my childhood snaps, I feel a pang of loss for all the moments my mother described which weren't captured and I feel even worse when I think that my parents only have a handful of studio pictures taken years ago as childhood memories.

But I think we may have overcompensated for all those with my niece, who at two years of age must easily have a dozen photographs for each day taken by her parents on their 8-megapixel Sony digital camera. There are pictures of her sleeping, drooling, bathing, laughing, crying, walking, running, shouting and so on. You name the moment we have the photograph. Clearly we are trying to make sure she doesn't find any gaps in her childhood memories like we did.

Thanks to affordable and easy-to-use recording devices — digital cameras, camcorders, camera phones — today's kids are forming the most documented generation ever, as parents, relatives and friends capture forever the first, second and hundredth smile.

The challenge will come in managing all the data and making sure they get migrated and cared for along the way. Of course, there is the embarrassment of having every possible moment captured in a 4 x 6 paper and documented and then there is the undeniable fact that your kid is going to hate you for a while about taking all those bathing or nappy changing pictures.

Today's children will get a glimpse tomorrow of what everyday life was like — how their parents dressed, what furniture and paintings were in their homes — not just during birthdays and special occasions when our parents and grandparents would pull out their 24 or 36 reel film camera and pose in their best outfits.

Also Read: Choosing the right camera