Be In The Moment!

_Fauxels

---

During the time of our parents, when there were only telephones and payphones, all they were able to do was just to make and receive calls. Even when mobile phones became a thing and people started carrying them around, they didn’t really have much in the way of features. Except maybe the occasional game or puzzle.

But now, so many years later, the very idea of what a phone is has morphed into something totally different. The phone has gone way beyond the tool for making and receiving calls. While that may be the basic function, it is now only a fraction of what it can actually do.

And then, with social media taking over the entire hemisphere, dominating all the nooks and crannies of the world, people are getting more and more attached to their smartphones more than usual. And one of the most addictive features of the smartphone, the main reason I am writing this post, is the camera.

I know that this might come as a shock to you because many of us are addicted to our phone’s camera without even knowing it. I’ll explain better.

For most of the major social media platforms, people engage in them mostly by taking beautiful pictures and making videos. From Facebook to Instagram, to Whatsapp, and Tiktok, people are always having to post updates, telling the world where they are and what they are up to.

For some, it is just another way of life. They are looking to grow a presence on social media, one that could potentially be converted into cash. So that can be understood. There are those who post their daily activities just so they can make their viewers and audience envious of them.

These are the really dangerous people, because they usually have a lot of things they are looking to hide, but they camouflage under fancy and bizazz so that their viewers will be intimidated. Many of them are only wealthy online, but outside the social space, they are just a regular nobody who is only trying too hard to please a world that doesn’t even care in the first place. I honestly don’t understand why people live this kind of life, but at this point in my life, I really don’t care.

_{Andrea Piacquadio}

I didn’t buy phones for anybody, nor do I provide network service for anyone, so I’m not going to be the one to tell people how to use their devices. But one of the downsides to this smartphone and the camera issue is the fact that it has become too distracting.

When people go to places of fun to enjoy themselves, they will spend more than half the time there taking pictures and making short videos. It usually seems like they are there for the pictures they are looking to take, and not the fun which was what brought them in the first place.

In the old days, cameras were bulky and required lots of work before the pictures could be seen. But thanks to smartphones, you literally take your camera everywhere you go.

I watched a video today, it was of a music concert that was filled up with adoring fans that were having a great time. And while the artiste was performing, they were all with their phones, recording the moment and watching the concert through the phone. Yeah, insane right?

If you are focused on making a video, how will you focus on having the fun you went there for in the first place?

_{Martin Lopez}

And the funny thing is that when we take these pictures and make these videos, we rarely look at them. That is after posting them on our social media platforms, that is the day the pictures and videos begin to gather dust in our phone’s gallery.

You don’t get it? Now tell me, when was the last time you went through pictures you took six months ago? Or the one you took one year ago? Two years?

So you see? Every day, new things are happening to us, and we keep on having more and more reasons to activate the camera feature on our smartphones and start snapping away. It is as if we have to record those moments because if we don’t then we cannot prove that we went there. And that is another case of trying to please the public.

So what am I saying? I know I’m definitely not saying that you should not take pictures or videos when you are out on the town. You should, it’s a way to preserve that moment. But we should stop making the pictures the sole purpose of our being there. We can take a few and then take our time to enjoy the event to the fullest. Because whether you like it or not, that show will never be repeated and it will be gone forever and all you will have will be the video. And the video will never give the same feeling as watching your favorite singer sing right in front of you.

Let us keep trying, it may not be easy but we can get it. Let’s learn how to immerse ourselves in the moment and also how to have a good time without having to pick up our phones. That is what is more important.

_{Wendy wei}

Thank you for reading. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section below, I would love to hear what you think. See you in the next post.

---

_{Borderimage credit: @deimage.}