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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