Living Room Stories

Some of the best stories in your family have never been told, because nobody asked the second question. Living Room Stories is for the afternoon you finally sit down with your mother, your father or your grandmother and ask. You ask the questions. Glow listens with you, keeps the recording, and helps you know what to ask next time.

No AI calls her, and nobody else interviews her. You're in the room, and the conversation is between the two of you, the way it always was. Glow just makes sure none of it gets lost.

How a conversation works

1. Agree, then record. Put one phone on the table. Before anything is recorded, both of you agree to it. She doesn't need an app, an account or a password. She only needs to be there.
2. Talk the way you always talk. Ask about the flat on the third floor, the year in the kibbutz, the first job. Bring a few old prints if you have them. Glow listens; it doesn't interrupt or steer.
3. Get the stories back, sorted. Afterwards, Glow splits the conversation into stories, labels who said what, and tags the people, places and years she mentions, linked to your family tree and timeline. Then it suggests a few follow-up questions for next time.

Old prints on the table are good company. When she picks one up and says who is in it, Glow notes the names she gave in that conversation. It goes by what she said, never by a guess about a face.

Why the second question matters

The first question gets the summary: "Where did you grow up?" "Haifa." The second question gets the story: "What could you see from the window?" That's where the smell of the bakery downstairs turns up, and the neighbour who kept pigeons on the roof.

There's research behind why this works. In a set of conversation studies, people who asked more follow-up questions were liked more by the person they were talking to, because a follow-up shows you were actually listening (Huang et al., 2017). Other studies found that people expect deep conversations with someone to be more awkward than they turn out to be, and enjoy them more than they predicted (Kardas, Kumar and Epley, 2022). That doesn't mean every afternoon will flow. It means the hesitation you feel before asking is usually bigger than the moment itself.

That's why Glow suggests follow-up questions after each session, drawn from what she actually said. You walk in next time with the second question already in your pocket. For more on asking it well, see how to ask a good follow-up.

Bring the whole family into the room

Not everyone can be at the table. Your brother in Toronto has wanted to know for years why Dad left the army early. With Living Room Stories, he adds the question from wherever he is, and it's waiting for you when you sit down with Dad. Your daughter can add hers too.

Once she has heard it, the stories sit in your family's private space, where the people you've invited can listen, comment and add what they remember. Children who know their family's stories tend to feel part of something bigger than themselves (Duke, Lazarus and Fivush, 2008). This is one easy way to give them those stories, in the voice that told them.

More than a voice memo

You could press record on your phone, and that's far better than nothing. But a voice memo is one long file with no names in it. A list of questions helps you start, but it can't tell you what to ask after the answer.

• A voice memo gives you an hour of audio. Living Room Stories gives you the stories inside it, each one labelled by who was speaking.
• A voice memo doesn't know who your great-aunt was. Living Room Stories tags the people, places and years, so every mention finds its way to the right place on your family tree and timeline.
• A list of questions is the same for every family. Glow's follow-ups come from what she told you last time.
• A voice memo lives on one person's phone. These stories live in the private space your family shares.

And her voice stays her voice. Hearing someone speak connects people more than reading their words (Kumar and Epley, 2021), which is why the recording itself matters, not just the transcript.

Her stories, her say

• She agrees first. Both people agree to the recording before it starts. Nobody is recorded without knowing.
• She hears it first. The narrator hears the conversation before anyone else in the family does.
• She can take anything out. Any part, at any time, for any reason.
• Private by default. The stories stay inside your private family space, and nothing is shared beyond it unless your family chooses to.
• Real recordings, in her own voice. Nothing is ever generated in her voice. Transcripts and tags are made by AI; the voices and the words are hers. No AI calls anyone.

Living Room Stories is for listening to people while they're here to tell it. It isn't for recreating someone who has died, and it isn't for recording anyone without their knowledge.

Prefer that Glow asks the questions?

Some people find it easier to talk to a gentle guide than to their own child. That's Talk with Glow, where Glow asks one question at a time, out loud or on screen. Living Room Stories is the other way round: you ask, and Glow listens with you. Many families use both.

Coming next

A live coach - a quiet suggestion on your screen during the conversation, never in the middle of a sentence - and a way to record a video call when you can't be in the same room are coming next. Today, Living Room Stories is for sitting together, in person.

Living Room Stories works in Hebrew, English and French, and it's part of Glow, with no separate price.