Pictures began as a way to preserve memories -- a way to look back in five years and remember.

But over the course of the past few years, they have so quickly transformed into the memory itself.

I will never understand the mindset that is being in a beautiful or memory worthy moment, and then pausing to take yourself out of the moment to have a picture. Being at a concert and feeling so alive -- that you remove yourself from the atmosphere to photograph it.

Going to a gorgeous location and stopping from looking at the view straight on so that you are looking at it through the lens of a camera phone.

But I think what is the worst thing about that, is it isn’t even just the phone of a screen that we have come to view those moments through. But it is also the lens of society, and of the social media approval, that we have come to view those moments through.

The number of concerts that I have been at and seeing people that are staring at the live music through their phones. To me that is one of the most telling situations there is of the way that things have changed. People used to hold open their cell phones to add light, to stand together in a type of unity for one night. Now when you go to the concert everyone is on the other end of the light looking into it.

Part of it comes from social media and the way that we live our lives for others to see it.

In many ways the scenario is similar to judging the number of friends someone has based off of the number of followers that they have on twitter or the number of likes that they get on an Instagram post. But how many of those people will come when you are having a bad day?

The same goes for, how many pictures do you have on social media that look like you are having the time of your life? But in how many of those photos did you let yourself remain in the moment -- did you let yourself be swept up in the awe of it before you paused to take that picture?

I was struck by this the most at the beach recently. A mom and her three kids had just gotten to the beach for what I can only assume was a week at the beach. And her kids, too young to have phones, went onto the deck and marveled at the view. While the mom asked them to turn away from the view to take a picture with their backs to it.

Why have we grown so accustomed to viewing the moments that take our breath away from behind a screen?

More than that, photos allow you to return to the way that you felt in that moment. Remember when you looked out over that view and remembered nothing or saw the wonderment of anything.

But if you are viewing the moment as a photo opportunity, what even is there to take you back to in the picture? Yes there is a gorgeous moment to hang on your wall, either the one on Facebook or the one in your home, but then you end your life looking at a bunch of pictures of moments that you didn’t enjoy.