Personally I've never had a problem re-experiencing events from digital photos. Often more so, because I take a good handful and get a sequence rather than just a single snap.

Aside from that - how did your ex manage to avoid fading?

Polaroids are absolutely notorious for yellow-fade. And the chemistry is weird and fragile.

It takes a month or so for the photo to fix. If you do anything to it in that time - cut off the white edges, squeeze it an album, expose it to light - the fading happens even more quickly.