My Life Before Smartphones: A Guided Memory Book Project — Chapter 01: The Mall Now Available!!
What if you could go back and remember the little details of life before smartphones—and turn those memories into a book of your own?
My Life Before Smartphones helps you do just that through guided memory cues, creative pieces, and scrapbook-inspired pages.
Your first chapter is now available!
A Creative Memory-Keeping Project for the Last Analog Generations
Before smartphones, we had to make plans by calling someone's house. We wandered through the mall, made mix CDs, passed notes, rented movies, waited for the internet to connect, and spent entire Saturdays figuring out what to do.
We didn't have a camera in our pocket recording every moment, so a lot of those little everyday memories are the ones we've forgotten.
Until something brings them back....
A song.
A photograph.
An old receipt.
A movie ticket.
A handwritten note.
One tiny detail you haven't thought about in years. And suddenly you're in that moment again, feeling all the feels. That's worth preserving. 🩷
This isn't about feeling sad for what's gone — it's about revisiting your special memories while also embracing an activity that has nothing to do with a screen. Something you make with your hands, memory by memory, chapter by chapter.
THIS IS FOR YOU IF...
- You want to bring some of your favorite memories back to life
- You want to preserve them without it feeling like a big, complicated project
- You've been looking for a hobby that has nothing to do with a screen
- You want to create something real and lasting — a piece of your story that outlives a device
This is YOUR memory book. We just help you make it.
My Life Before Smartphones is a collection of prompts, creative pieces, and memory-hunting guides designed to help you uncover the memories you've forgotten—and turn them into a memory book of your own.
This isn't a printable pack you skim through once — it's a guided process that walks you back into memories you didn't know you still had.
Our Unique Guided Memory Process
1️⃣ REMEMBER
Our guided memory cues bring the special details back.
2️⃣ FIND
A quick memory hunt for a photo, object, cutout, or other item that fits.
3️⃣ CREATE
Cut, glue, and build your pages — no experience required.
4️⃣ KEEP
A piece of your story, saved for good, which you can pass down if you choose.
Each digital guided Chapter Kit includes:
🧭 GETTING STARTED GUIDE
A quick, step-by-step guide to help you get started, gather what you need, and get ready to create. No complicated instructions, just follow the simple steps and start making memories.
📝 MEMORY CUES GUIDE
Creative, specific prompts designed to walk you through remembering the little details—not just the obvious stuff.
🎨 PRINTABLE BACKGROUNDS
A collection of themed printable backgrounds designed to give your memory pages the perfect starting point.
✂️ CREATIVE PIECES
Bring your pages to life with printable cut-outs and chapter-inspired details designed to help you make each memory uniquely yours.
🎧 YOUR CHAPTER SOUNDTRACK
Spotify playlists curated to match the memories and mood of each chapter. Press play and let the music take you back while you create. (Playlist links are located in your Getting Started Guide)
📐 LAYOUT IDEAS
Inspiration for putting everything together into cohesive pages that are uniquely your own.
Nine chapters. One life.
The Life Before Smartphone Chapters will take you from the places you went, the things you loved, and the people you grew up with.....to the moment everything started to change.
We can't wait to help you remember the life you lived before you lived life on your phone. 🩷
FAQs
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My Life Before Smartphones is a collection of nine nostalgia-filled digital guided Chapter Kits designed to help you create a memory book about your own life before smartphones.
Each chapter focuses on a different part of growing up....from the mall and music, to weekends, school, friendships, vacations, and eventually your transition into the digital world.
You choose a chapter, go through our unique Memory Cues to uncover your own memories, then use the included printable backgrounds, cut-outs, and other creative pieces along with your own photos and momentos to turn your memories into memory book pages.
The result is a one-of-a-kind memory book filled with your stories, your photographs, your keepsakes, and your life. 💗
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Each digital guided Chapter Kit includes:
CHAPTER GUIDE
A quick, easy guide to help you understand how the chapter works, gather what you need, and get ready to create. No complicated instructions, just follow the simple steps and start making memories.
MEMORY CUES GUIDE
Creative, specific prompts designed to walk you through remembering the little details—not just the obvious stuff.
PRINTABLE BACKGROUNDS
A collection of themed printable backgrounds designed to give your memory pages the perfect starting point.
CREATIVE PIECES
Bring your pages to life with printable cut-outs and chapter-inspired details designed to help you make each memory uniquely yours.
YOUR CHAPTER SOUNDTRACK
A Spotify playlist curated to match the memories and mood of each chapter. Press play and let the music take you back while you create.
LAYOUT IDEAS
Inspiration for putting everything together into cohesive pages that are uniquely your own.
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The basic supplies needed are:
• The Life Before Smartphones digital kit for the Chapter you are creating
• A blank scrapbook album, journal, or even a composition notebook
• Scissors
• Adhesive
• A home printer, library printer, or local print shop
• A few of your own photographs and mementos
Optional additional supplies:
• Scrapbook paper
• Stickers
• Markers
• Washi tape
You can find some additional supply options in our Amazon store right here.
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You should be able to get 3 or 4 pages out of each kit, or even more if you add your own elements in too.
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That's totally okay! You don't need a collection of old photos or keepsakes to create your chapters. Use the included printable backgrounds, cut-outs, and creative pieces, and feel free to add images you find online that represent the places, things, or experiences you remember. You can also include handwritten notes, stickers, drawings, or anything else that helps tell your story.
There are no rules for making it yours—just have fun with it!
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Not yet, but if this project takes off we hope to in the future! Tell your friends! 🤩
About Us
Hi there, and welcome! 👋
First thing to know: We're real people!
We are a mother + daughters team who grew up before smartphones, before social media, before every moment was automatically photographed and stored somewhere.
Yes… that's us in the picture, straight outta the '90s!
We created My Life Before Smartphones because we don't want all of those 'before' memories to disappear.
So we're here to help you dig them back up, find the pieces of your own past that are still tucked away (in boxes, drawers, photo albums, or just your head), and turn them into something you can hold onto.
Something that's completely yours.
We can't wait to help you remember and preserve the life you lived before you lived life on your phone. 💗
➡️ Want to know when we launch new chapters?
Follow us below and we'll contact you when new chapters and products are available.