SALT LAKE CITY — Consider this: Your computer crashes and years of family photos are gone forever. Your tablet gets stolen on the train, and all your personal documents are gone with it. You're visiting family when your kiddo realizes he never emailed his school assignment, and you have to race home to retrieve the digital file.

These are not hypothetical "what ifs," but real-life situations that happen to people every day. There's a reason cloud storage is growing in popularity among home users. And you don't need to be a computer expert to use the cloud — cloud storage is easy for those with little technical prowess. Here are five reasons you should be using the cloud.

1. Anywhere access

The beauty of the cloud is that as long as you have Internet access, you can access your information from anywhere. Today we are using so many devices, cloud storage takes the complexity out of file access. Long gone are the days where you email documents to yourself — say goodbye to the outdated flash drives you'd carry on your keychain. Whether you need to open a document on your phone or download a picture on someone else's tablet, the universal access of the cloud gives you ultimate flexibility. From Dropbox to Google Drive to Apple iCloud, there are plenty of options to save your information.

All cloud storage services have their own apps you can install on your mobile device. Most services can also be used via browser, so accessing your files on a laptop or PC is as fast and convenient as using your mobile device.

2. Peace of mind

Have you truly backed up your work or are you merely archiving it? A backup is a copy of the file you're working on, but a true backup is stored in more than one location. Saving your file then continuing to work on it without creating another copy is merely an archive.

"An archive is less secure and a less safe business practice because if something happens to your file (such as it becomes corrupted) or the hardware it's stored on, you've lost all the work, no matter how precious it might have been," explains Tech Magazine contributor Rinas Muhammed.

Cloud storage puts backups in a protected location removed from the original — and it backs up all updates. It stores your data in multiple locations. Using the cloud, you can back up all your photos, vital documents and precious files. You won't need to worry about theft or hardware failure.

3. Ease of use

Best of all, backing up your files using cloud storage is practically mindless. Be honest with yourself — how regularly do you back up your photos and documents? Online cloud storage is automated. You can sync your files to automatically update, so instead of remembering to take the time to manually back up your files, you free up your mental bandwidth and time for more important things.

Similar to backing up photos, sharing photos is a breeze when you use cloud storage. Imagine sharing vacation photos from your hotel room with your family back home, or collaborating on a homework assignment during your lunch break. Using the cloud, you can share and collaborate from anywhere. Cloud storage also allows you to work on projects simultaneously, updating instantly. Never again do you have to curse your email because your files are too large to send.

4. Lots of space

Though backing up files on external hard drives or CDs is possible, it's also expensive. Hard drives don't have the virtually unlimited storage space that the cloud provides. And using the cloud means you don't have to physically store and upkeep a pile of hard drives or flimsy CDs. Storing data on physical devices means those devices can still be lost, stolen, corrupted, or broken.

With cloud storage, you don't have to worry about the physical limitations of storage devices. Simply select the amount of storage you need and pay by the month or year. Some cloud storage services, such as Dropbox, give you a certain amount of storage for free, and then you can upgrade your account anytime if you need more space.

5. Tight security

Most cloud services guarantee tight security. Data from device-to-service is encrypted. This is why so many businesses choose cloud storage over storing their own data locally at their business — it's more confidential.

For optimal security, many cloud storage services will provide an option to enable two-step verification. Anytime someone tries to access your account, they must provide the standard login and password, but then they must also provide a secondary identification. For example, your storage provider might send you an email or text message with an authorization code that you must provide in order to access your account online.

Cloud storage is vital to protect your digital life. Rather than losing valuable photos, memories, documents, and work, take advantage of cloud storage and automatic backup.

Sarah is an adjunct professor and freelancer. You can find her on Twitter @sarahzpike.