If you didn’t photograph it, did it even happen? If you didn’t tag your location pin, were you even there? If you didn’t produce a minimum of 100 photos to document the entire holiday, what evidence is there to prove that fun actually transpired? Social media, along with the cameras embedded in our smartphones have made us hypersensitive to the fear of missing out and by extension has forced us to adapt a digital recorder reflex.
If I am to be honest, there were many times when I felt conflicted as to whether or not I should whip my phone out or trust my brain enough to remember. There were so many occasions where I was surrounded by people who were so focused on getting the right shot that any other type of other behaviour made one feel as if one wasn’t participating in the right way. And of course there were those moments when I wanted to record but felt too insecure because the environment/crowd was different.