Our Digital Family Album
Jina won first prize in the school singing contest.
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She chose a popular song from the 1980s to sing in front of all the students.
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Jina’s best friend, Eunji, recorded the performance on her cell phone.
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After the contest, Jina showed the video file to her parents.
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Jina’s father said, “Oh, your grandfather should watch this! This song is one of his favorites.”
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Jina wanted to send the video file to her grandfather right away, but she realized he didn’t have an email address or a smartphone.
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She felt sorry about this because she had no choice but to wait until she could visit her grandparents.
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Here is her story.
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When I visited my grandfather, he used to tell me about when he was my age.
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I have heard it hundreds of times, so I already know what he will say after, “When I was your age, ...”
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One of his least favorite things was any kind of digital device.
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This time I thought I could change his mind because he really enjoyed watching my singing performance on my phone.
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I told him, “Grandpa, I really want you to have a smartphone or an email address. If you use it, we can share many things and talk more often.”
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However, my grandfather kept saying that it would be too difficult to use a smartphone or email.
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He believed digital devices worsened the generation gap.
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I wondered why he held on to his negative attitudes toward digital technologies.
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I found it hard to narrow the gap between us, so I said to my father, “Grandpa simply can’t understand my generation.”
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After having dinner at my grandparents’ house, I received a message with two photos from my father.
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He said, “Jina, what do you think about these two photos?”
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The first photo was in black and white, and it was taken when my father was very young.
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In the picture, all the family members were eating some fruit together.
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As I saw their smiling faces in the picture, I could feel real happiness.
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On the other hand, the second photo was totally different.
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My father had taken this photo before we had dinner.
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I was playing online games on my smartphone, and my brother was talking with his friends using a mobile messaging app while my grandfather was just watching TV.
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There seemed to be an invisible wall separating us from our grandfather.
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I felt sorry for my grandparents as I saw the photos.
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I began to understand how my grandfather felt, so I asked my father how I could bridge the gap between my grandparents and me.
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He said, “Jina, I know you’re very good at computers.
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Why don’t you make a digital family album?
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Even better, you could add some songs we all love, along with your singing contest video file.
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Your grandfather will be very pleased to be able to share his life history with you.”
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I thought digital devices could connect our family and strengthen the family bonds.
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I suggested the idea to my grandfather, and he accepted it with a big smile.
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Our digital family album starts with “When my grandfather was my age, ...”
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When my grandfather was my age, the Korean War broke out.
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Things were quite different from the way we live now.
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He remembers how people suffered from cold, hunger, and poverty even after the war.
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My grandfather decided to leave his sick mother, two brothers, and three sisters because he was the only one who could earn money.
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As a laborer in the 1970s, he worked for a big construction company in Saudi Arabia and Iran for many years.
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When he thought of his family in Korea, he had to put up with all his difficulties.
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A love of music runs in the family.
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Music has been my grandfather’s best friend throughout his life.
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He often listens to music when he feels sad.
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He told me he really liked the song that I sang at the singing contest.
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He also introduced me to a lot of songs I had never heard before.
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They were really amazing.
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We chose the first song for the background music of our digital family album.
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We found it interesting to make our own digital family album together.
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My grandparents said they felt closer to me and my brother because our family talked about the photos and the old days.
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I was glad to learn about their past, and they also looked happy to share their stories with me.
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We have finished making the first two chapters of our digital family album, and we decided to choose some photos of my grandmother for the next chapter.
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My grandmother has already selected her favorite song for the background music.
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Our digital family album will never end!
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