WRIT 3500

Revision

For this assignment, we took an old piece of work and transformed the material into a new genre. This was a really fun assignment with lots of room for creativity. I used a past nature memoir I wrote and I transformed it into an Op-Ed.

Photos are Diluting Your Beautiful World

Picture this.

The end is in sight! The summit sits like a king, rough and sharp and majestic on its throne of stone. When you finally reach the top of the precipice, you feel like you’re on the moon. 14,060 feet in the air. There is not a single human being in sight, and your heart drops into your stomach. A blood orange wave hovers around you and you gaze down at the trail, littered with boulders on the rough blanket of earth. Down the backside, you see turquoise pools surrounded by bony trees. Each new angle has its own fleeting beauty. You marvel at what you have just overcome. You reach in your pocket to take a photo…

And you forgot your phone in the car!

You take photos because maybe you want to remember an experience, or because you may think that it will be enhance an experience because you have a physical manifestation of that memory. You may like to look back on your photos and reminisce. Perhaps it will give you satisfaction that you accomplished something.

However, a series of lab studies reveal that taking pictures as compared to not taking pictures decreased the enjoyment of a given experience. The results in this study found that consumers may unwittingly fail to enjoy those experiences to the fullest, when pairing that experience with a photo opportunity. You took that hike to enjoy nature and embrace the beauty of a mountain. You shouldn’t dilute that incredible experience by distracting yourself with photos! We can get so caught up in the photo that we miss the experience itself.

Phones and photos and social media and sharing. What effect do these things have on our raw experiences? They dilute our experiences. In the moment when you get to the summit of that 14’er, you may be devastated that you will not have a photo to document that experience, that maybe this memory will flee from your memories faster. However, you are wrong. By constantly striving to document experiences, people may fail to enjoy those experiences to the fullest. Not only does it dull the moment, but studies show taking photos even makes objects, places and experiences easier to forget.

Do you take photos to preserve a memory? I know I have definitely thought wow, I did this incredible hike to this beautiful overlook, I don’t want to ever forget this! On the contrary, in one study, psychological scientist Dr. Linda Henkel of Fairfield University presents data demonstrating how participants had worse memory for objects and specific details when they took photos of them. People are so quick now to just whip out their cameras and phones almost mindlessly to capture a moment, to the point where they miss what is going on right in front of their eyes. We have all been there. Raching for the phone or the camera is such a natural reaction in this day and age that it can become automated and meaningless. Research suggests that the sheer lack of volume and lack of organization of photos on devices such as phones decreases the likelihood that anyone would even go back and reminisce on these photos. Henkel calls this the “photo-taking impairment effect” – when people rely on technology to preserve memories and moments, but it has the adverse effect. In many cases, scientists found that constantly taking pictures actually decreases our ability to remember experiences, distracts us, and takes away from the real moment. On a larger scale, the constant photo capturing may even be transforming how we recall events in our own lives.

Social media is such a large part of modern society, connecting people worldwide. We use it to keep up with old friends, make new friends, share ideas, beliefs, recipes, family, and friends. Sometimes we even use social media to make others jealous, show off, show an old boyfriend we’ve moved on, or prove we have lots of friends. So much of social media is centered around sharing our own experiences and lives with others on the internet, and much of this constitutes photos. You hike on a glacier, get a world-famous milkshake, or enjoy a sunset on a rooftop, and you have to plaster it al over Instagram. After all, take a pic or it never happened, right?

No, not right! Studies conclude that when asked to take photos not just for yourself, but ultimately to share on social media platforms, people’s enjoyment was further hindered. The inherent social pressure of seeking approval of others makes experiences more about documentation then enjoyment. That yearning for approval may come in between the satisfaction of drinking that milkshake or what you see with your own eyes at the top of that glacier. Live for yourself, and enjoy for yourself! Sometimes it just takes a step back.

This is not to say that photography of nature is in any way unjustified. Photography is a beautiful art form. Taking photos for the purpose of taking photos is exquisite and interesting and intriguing. However, if you want to enjoy your experiences, whatever they may be — in nature, in your everyday life, with your food, at the beach — challenge yourself to live the experience untainted by technology. Next time you climb a 14’er, leave your phone in the car. Challenge yourself to widen your perspective, beyond a 6 x 3 screen. See what happens.