Technology is great but…
Sun and trees at the park
Do you ever get the feeling that you are looking at the world through your camera and missing the action?
It is so easy to take pictures/videos on phones, and other devices that I feel like if I don’t “capture the moment” I won’t remember it.
I have two small children and often feel the need to document every thing they do. I know I wll not be able to remember everything but do I need to? Is it more important to take a picture/video or to enjoy the moment?
I read something by the.effing.librarian recently that highlights this dilema. He describes watching a crowd around Barack Obama.
But look at those people, I thought. Look, Obama is right next to you. Look at his face; he wants to meet you. He’s here to meet you. But these few idiots continued to look at him through their mini screens, as if nothing existed unless it was rendered into pixels.
His obesrvation is spot on. In our rush to get a good picture we miss a really special moment.
Sarah Perez of ReadWriteWeb an excellent post in which she analyzes this modern phenomena. She is a much better writer than I and is able to explain everything very clearly. I highly recommend you read it and think it over. She asks a question early in the piece that I think sums everything up.
Did we waste our lives documenting them and forget to live?
It’s a very good question and one I don’ t think I’ll be able to answer for quite a while.
