We’ve all done it. I’m probably the guiltiest, but I know for sure I’m not the only one. Don’t tell me you haven’t gone to a concert and spent the majority of your time fervently trying to capture a blurry outline far in the distance only so you can post it on social media and tell people you saw Taylor Swift. Rather than enjoying the music and singing along to "Blank Space," you fussed with your camera’s focus, eager to get that perfect shot, the one worthy of Instagram. Even if you haven’t done it at a concert, or have been close enough to get a decent resolution, you’ve most likely spent a significant amount of time on your phone while doing something you enjoy. Odds are, this past weekend a minimum of 30 seconds of your SnapStory were fuzzy fireworks. But it doesn’t matter, does it?
All your friends and followers got to see exactly what you were up to and you may have even managed to squeeze some major FOMO out of them. Unfortunately, all this comes at a price. You may not notice it while shooting endless identical videos of your baby cousin giggling, or while singing your heart out at the summer’s hottest music festival, but you are living your life through the lens of your smartphone. We have all become slaves to these pieces of technology, but more so we have become slaves to our own incredible desires to share our lives with everyone who isn’t experiencing them with us at this exact moment. But at the end of the day, what are we left with? We may have 143 likes on an Instagram picture, 98 views on a 30 second snapstory, and 45 minutes of indistinct, poorly lit videos stashed away on that camera roll.
Nonetheless, did we really enjoy the concert? Or feel the echo in our chests of fireworks exploding? No. We didn’t. Because we were too busy to enjoy the moment, and the people around us, simply to impress the ones who watch our lives through a screen. And we too have become slaves to their posts and constant desire for online attention. So I’m offering a proposition: for the rest of the summer can we try to spend a little less time on our phones and a little more time doing the things we love with the ones who love us, completely unfiltered? Can we stop trying to photograph the flash of a firefly at the exact time it blinks and instead enjoy the moment that can’t be captured? Take in the atmosphere, the music, the moonlight, whatever it is, and stop trying to recreate it in a video or picture or any form of social media post. When you live in the moment and sincerely soak up the experience you will make the most of your life and when you look back, you won’t regret a single thing.
