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What oft was thought

~ "True wit is Nature to advantage dress'd, What oft was thought but ne'er so well express'd"–Alexander Pope ("Essay on Criticism").

What oft was thought

Tag Archives: smartphone

Capturing Beauty with My Camera?

29 Wednesday Oct 2014

Posted by Sandi in Beauty, history, phone, Photography, Social media

≈ 18 Comments

Tags

camera, Facebook, Google, memories, scrapbooks, smartphone

Twice lately I’ve encountered the disturbing implication that, because an incident wasn’t searchable on the internet or hadn’t been documented in a photograph, the incident had never occurred. One incident involves a rumor that I don’t wish to feed, while the other incident was a murder: the person searching for facts was understandably distressed that the crime had received little attention. What concerns me is the perception that reality can be determined by a Google search: if there are no results, it just didn’t happen?

It seems absurd to infer that something didn’t happen simply because someone failed to document it. True, artifacts and written records give us valuable clues about the past; we would know little about ancient civilizations without physical remnants or recorded memories. Indeed, the desire to preserve memories through paintings or portraits is inherently human. But, given the extent to which photo-taking has infiltrated the twenty-first century, we may have gone too far in our desire to document our lives.

sandi and tom in poolCameras are everywhere, and I do mean, everywhere: on music players, computers, video game systems, and, of course, on our mobile phones. When I leave the house, I need to have my phone with me as much because it contains a camera as because I might get a text or call. What if I see something intriguing or lovely while I’m out? What if my son does something quirky or cute? What if I see a garment at Target that my daughter might like? When I was a child, cameras came out on occasions like holidays or Halloween, birthdays or gatherings. Developing film was expensive, and putting those photos into scrapbooks was time-consuming. My mother took some photos of us in the sandbox or on the swing set, but many pictures feature us wearing Easter clothes, looking into Christmas stockings, going to the zoo, or blowing out candles.

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Fresh scones made by my daughter Emily surely merit a photo.

Today, we take pictures of everything: happy moments, sad moments, meh moments. Those special occasions still get more attention from cameras, but even formal portraits no longer require formal clothing. Far more pictures are taken of the ordinary things in life — food, pets, house plants, clothing, home decor. We photograph everything.

None of this is bad in itself. The tagline for my other site is “celebrating beauty in creation,” and beauty can be found in many ordinary places or things, not merely within the realm of the sublime or the magnificent. Recently, I wrote a post about two contrasting fall photos: I preferred the artistic picture of a new leaf to the jumbled leaves on a sidewalk, but my readers pointed out that both pictures had a kind of beauty. Beauty can be found in a diamond or in a dandelion. Our constant access to cameras makes us more likely to find beauty in the small or mundane things, and that is good.

P1070190But, is my camera getting between me and my enjoyment of life? Is my incessant picture-taking keeping me from interacting with others because I’m so anxious to make sure this moment gets “recorded”? If it wasn’t photographed or documented on social media, did it happen? YES, it did, but sometimes I forget that. I have even found myself planning a hike to a scenic spot so that — it hurts to confess this — I’ll have a new cover photo for Facebook. I am glad to have my pictures later, but, whether or not I take a picture of a maple tree with leaves so brilliantly scarlet that they diminish everything else, the tree is still beautiful and still real.

This summer, as my daughter photographed the sunrise with her phone, I took a picture of her, with mine.

Granted, self-presentation is a key aspect of life in the online age. It’s not wrong to take pictures of breathtakingly beautiful sunsets or to record special performances like dance recitals, nor is it wrong to share those beautiful memories with others. But when I find myself panicking because I’m afraid I’ve left my camera at home — freaking out, in fact, as I did a few years ago on the way to my oldest son’s high school graduation — it is time to assess what is more important: enjoying the graduation, even if I have no pictures to treasure later, or making myself a nervous wreck because I’m not able to “capture” the moments.

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My middle child–shown here with my mother-in-law–seems to have survived the trauma of having a baby book with few photos.

The truth is, we cannot capture the moments. The moments will happen, and then they are gone. I do remember bygone days better if I have pictures of them, and my children love looking back at pictures of themselves when they were toddlers. How thankful I am that my mother somehow found the time to put those 60s and 70s photos in her scrapbooks! (One of the advantages of being an older child in my family is that my baby book has lots of pictures.) I didn’t do so well with pictures of my kids: my third child — beloved though he is — proved to be the straw that broke this camel’s back, and I have never caught up with my photo albums since his birth (he turns 19 today).

I’m thankful for the pictures and for the memories. But, as my mother reminded me during that tense drive to my son’s graduation, what matters is to be in the moment, to enjoy the people and the places around you face-to-face and not solely through the camera’s screen. By the way, I did have my camera with me, and I took lots of pictures at my son’s graduation. But I also made myself a little crazy, trying to get pictures of everything and everyone. I love to document things. As with everything else in my life, I need to find that elusive balance where cameras are concerned.


 

Afterword: If you have time, please read through some of the thoughtful comments that my readers have left here.  You can read more here about how digital cameras may be affecting our memories (thanks for the link, Michael).

 

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Facebook: friend or foe of the lonely soul?

09 Tuesday Sep 2014

Posted by Sandi in email, loneliness, Social media

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

connection, Facebook, Google maps, smartphone, social media

Getting a smartphone on my last birthday changed my life–but not necessarily for the better.  Sure, some things are better: when I travel, I have tools such as Google Maps to deal with my chronic tendency towards getting lost. When I forget my camera, I have one that is nearly as good and connects easily to social media.  If I want to listen to music or an audiobook–or even read an ebook–it’s all there on one device: no more lugging around a camera, an mp3 player, an e-reader, AND a phone. Life is good–isn’t it? I know I’m fortunate to own a smartphone, but is the smartphone beginning to own me?

Love/hate is a good way to categorize my relationship with my smartphone; the very fact that I am in a dynamic relationship with an object hints at the problem. How can a thing have such a hold on me? Yet it does: I find myself checking Facebook and Instagram numerous times each day, despite the fact that there are only a handful–well, maybe two handfuls–of Facebook friends whom I know well enough to phone. Sometimes I call family members, and I text my older children fairly often, but it has been a very long time since I picked up the phone to call a friend for–well, just for conversation.  When I pick up my smartphone, I pick it up to connect to my “Friends” via the curiously indirect and yet direct medium of Facebook.

My intent is not to bash Facebook: far from it! I love the fact that, on a daily basis, I’m interacting with my sisters, with my parents, with one of my brothers (the other is a hold-out), with my nieces and nephews and children.  This daily interaction wasn’t happening a few years back.  My family was famous for its emails, which have mostly gone by the wayside: aside from being a better vehicle for extensive conversation, the emails were a record of our lives while most of us were busy raising young children. Two of my siblings put together what they called the Ebook–a record of our family’s emails over a period of several years–and it’s a fascinating chronicle of our past. Emails were time-consuming to write and time-consuming to read, though, and the quick response that one gets from Facebook was lacking with the emails. It could be a day or two before anyone wrote back.

While even now a good family email will get some momentum going, particularly if there are events or updates of a personal nature, the emails peter out after a few days. Facebook has an immediacy that email lacks: nine times out of 10, I log onto Facebook, and, bingo–I’m connecting to someone, in some way.  Old friends, new friends, just-barely-friends: anyone can become a confidante on Facebook, anyone can share something that we “like” or that intrigues us. Through Facebook, I have come to appreciate old acquaintances whose value I scarcely realized, back in the days of junior high and high school when I hardly dared to put a toe out of line. I have come to see that the “perfect” people I was too scared to talk to have their share of problems, too. Who knew?

But Facebook has its dark side. It brings out my inner voyeur, that despicable part of myself that is curious about how others live their lives. Particularly with people whom I don’t know well or whom I once admired or envied, I find myself scrolling through their photos and posts, trying to discern where life has taken them. (That admission may well lose me a Facebook friend or two.) There is also the “Oops!” factor of Facebook: not infrequently I happen upon photos of my peers festively attired, arms about the host or hostess. It’s not that I should have been invited, but, had it not been for the public display on Facebook, I might have been blissfully ignorant. (That knife cuts both ways, and I have probably been the offender as well as the offended.) Much has been made of this lately, but Facebook can leave one feeling depressed: why don’t I ever get to go on lovely vacations? How come my child isn’t the lead in the play, or the star of the swim meet? When will I ever lose all this extra weight?

The worst aspect of Facebook–for me–is that I am now addicted to connection. I’ve spent years as a loner, and now I’m addicted to social media? Huh? It’s been a whole 20 minutes since I checked my status, but I find myself reaching for my phone again. WHAT IS UP WITH THAT?  I don’t live alone: I share a house with three other people, all of whom are intelligent and articulate.  I also have a lot of work to do, but, somehow, that urge to connect trumps everything else as I gently click my phone and punch in the passcode. (I hoped that the necessity of punching in a 4-digit code would slow down my status checking, but, so far, it has not.)

The other day, I googled, “How do I wean myself off Facebook?” I wasn’t pleased with the results, most of which viewed regular checking of Facebook as the eighth deadly sin. It is NOT a crime to want to connect to other human beings. While virtual, the Facebook connection is also real. Feelings can be hurt on Facebook, but consolation and encouragement can be given via that avenue. I have sorrowed and prayed for others because of Facebook, and I have rejoiced and given good cheer because of Facebook. Now if I could only discipline myself to master Facebook, rather than allowing Facebook to master me. . . .

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