The Site “See Your Folks” Reminds Us to Spend Time with Parents

How many visits have you got? Photo credit: fastcodesign.com

Are your parents aging? The new expectancy calculator site “See Your Folks” may make you reflect on how much time you spend with aging parents — because the expectancy calculator determines the opportunities you have left to spend time with them. Invented by Luke Tipping, Daniel George, Robert Holmkvist and Omar Karim, “See Your Folks” doesn’t fixate on telling you when your aging parents will pass on; it doesn’t approximate a day of death. While one could surmise such information from its results, “See Your Folks” lets a different calculation — and motivation — take priority.

Tipping says his inspiration for the expectancy calculator came when he found himself torn between an age-old dilemma: should he visit his aging parents, or his friends? After some methodical reflection, Tipping realized he hadn’t spent as much time as he would’ve liked with his parents over the years. How much time did they have left together? How could he know?

Today, it’s easy to get sucked into a culture of “knowing.”

“The device calculates how many visits you have left with mom and dad, before they die, rather than determine the date of their death.”

We want to know what’s in the food we’re buying, where it came from, how it came to our grocery stores and whether it was via a biodiesel vehicle or not. Everything we buy or invest in feeds the need to know how much we’re losing, gaining, or saving. Toss the info-overload of social networking platforms in and it’s hard not to up-sticks and run from it all on occasion.

On one hand, the availability with which we can access information today is wonderful; it creates more aware, conscious citizens. But do we really need another expectancy calculator? Another thing that wastes our time by telling us how much time we’re wasting?

The “See Your Folks” Message. Photo credit: seeyourfolks.com

“Increasing awareness of death can help us to make the most of our lives,” assures Tipping, “The right kind of reminders help us to focus on what matters and perhaps make us better people.” I’m happy to hear the tool wasn’t designed out of morbid fascination, unlike so many other expectancy calculators. Hopefully, “See Your Folks” will simply inspire people to get offline and on the phone with their parents.

Related Links:

• How Many Times Will You See Your Parents Before They Die? A Review of “See Your Folks” by Mark Wilson
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