Looking at the amount of impact that people’s photos can have on not only yourself, but others is a very interesting concept because it is not something I have really ever thought about. But after reading these two articles, the authors both brought up very good points and reminded me of my own personal experiences with instagram and looking at other people’s vacation photos.
With relation to pictures in general, I have noticed that people are so camera focused. Whether it be a concert, their kids play, or even a dinner with friends, people love to document almost everything in their lives. Whether it be to show others what they are up to or just for their own purpose, people tend to have this compulsive need to whip out their phones anytime something exciting is happening or if their kid is doing something that they deem document worthy. While I understand the need to document things for the later purpose of having it documented, sometimes I do wish people would just be in the moment. It’s not just the compulsive need to document everything that annoys me but people’s obsession with social media. I knew someone that whenever we hung out she would be on her phone the entire time which got very annoying. We could be at dinner, watching a movie together, or just even hanging out and she would be on her phone the entire time and wouldn’t even be involved in the conversations of others around her and the fact that she thought her phone was more interesting than the people sitting in front of her was quite annoying. I try my best when I am with my friends to not be on my phone. I don’t want to be that person who is remembered as the friend who was never able to hold a conversation because she was too invested in staring at her screen. I want to create these long-lasting memories and the only way for me to do that is to not be overly invested in my phone. In relation to the compulsive documentation, too often I come across peoples overly long snapchat stories where they have decided to document the entire concert or parent who wants to film their kids entire concert. I get wanting to document these sorts of things because they are exciting but by doing so they miss out on being in the moment and just enjoying the concert and the ability to see their favorite performer live and in person or just simply enjoy seeing their kid attempt to play an instrument or sing and while they may not sound great, it is still cute to see them try. I have been to too many recitals where the entire room is nothing but phones and iPads and it just kind of ruins the beauty of the moment.
I have no doubt that social media can alter one’s memory of an event or moment. When people take pictures of things, what it ultimately does is that it forces us to focus on one specific thing and as a result we may miss out on other things. Henkel conducted an experiment where she led a bunch of undergrad students around a museum and they looked at all sorts of cool art stuff. Some were told to take pictures while others were told to simply observe. The next day, they were told to recall what they saw, and the result of this test was that those who were told to take pictures remembered less than those who were told to observe. I think that just goes to show the importance of being in the moment because by doing so you are really able to take in the scenery and see all the small details as opposed to being photo focused and just getting your “instagram worthy” shot. That is one the reason why they don’t want us on our phones at my job, because when you are on your phone, your ability to properly supervise the children deceases significantly and you may miss something important; whether it be a fight between campers or an injury. If you properly supervise, you can properly assess the situation and figure out how you want to handle it and if you have to rely it to a higher up, you are able to do so because you witnessed it and were able to get both sides of the story by being invested in the conversation. In the end, I do understand why people take pictures and whatnot but I also think that being in the moment and taking in your surrounding is just as important because it allows you to enjoy things more and you remember more of what happened.
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