Over the past years, I have witnessed more and more people falling into the "365 Day Photo Challenge" trend. For those who haven't seen this, it is a challenge to capture some part of your day in a photo and post it to social media. When I first discovered this, I found the idea to be interesting. I already struggle with finding the perfect picture to put on Facebook, let alone one perfect picture a day. As a generation that is already obsessed with social media, I wondered if this was a good idea or did it just increase our need to express our lives with others? Instead of making a choice on a side, I have decided to gather facts and allow readers to make their own decisions.
Pros:
We all know that life is short. In an instant, it could all be gone. Every moment is precious. Why wouldn't we want to capture it? Whether it has been the perfect lazy day with your significant other or if it has just been a day when you are really grateful for your overweight cat, moments like these are what great pictures are made of. This challenge could be about finding something positive everyday while living in a negative world. This world often tries to drag us down by telling us that we aren't smart enough or pretty enough, but could we combat these messages through pictures? Could we learn to love ourselves a little more each day through capturing the positive moments in life? Maybe you are so into the moment that the reason you take a picture is to try and capture a visual representation of a memory that isn't just in your head? You can always look back years from now on those days and remember all the great times and experiences you've had.
Cons:
As millennials, we are all about our "online image." We have to make sure that every photo of ourselves has either an edit or filter or that it is just the best picture out of the thousands we took. Social media gives us a way to appear to have the perfect life. In this way, society has kind of made us all narcissist. No one likes to hear about the bad things in life. We want to see all our friends post selfies at the beach or a breathtaking sunrise view of the mountainside after a six mile hike or even pictures from seeing some celebrity in concert. Not every moment can be captured in the perfect picture. It's so great that we want to have photographic evidence that the moment just happen, but are we so caught up in capturing the moment that we are forgetting to live in the moment? You want to enjoy every second of life, so why waste any of it trying to get the perfect picture?
All this being said, I think that this challenge can be a good thing for some people. For others, it's not as fruitful. Whether you take photos of everything or only capture those special moments in your day, the 365 Photo Challenge might be for you. Regardless of the challenge, we need to learn when to stop trying to capture the moment and learn to live in the moment.
