The last week of summer break, I decided to finally get myself a smartphone. The decision was a combination of envy, borderline necessity and wanting to feel like an adult and start paying my own bills. I left my hardy slider behind and joined the world of Snapchat, Venmo, and most importantly, Instagram. A couple weeks ago, I unwillingly realized how addicted I have become to my phone and that I love to hate it. I will admit most of my apps are fun and pretty handy, but as much as I love Instagram, I am noticing how much we can miss when we are neglecting the actual world around us.
A few weekends ago, I went home to Maine to spend some time with my family. My dad was taking us somewhere up in the woods to pan for gold and get lost trying. On the drive out we passed through a little place called Abbot (Maine’s #1 town) and I almost missed the most breathtaking glimpse of foliage as we drove over a tiny piece of stream. For the rest of the day while trudging along the river I was preoccupied with trying to get that perfect shot for Instagram so I could show off to my friends how beautiful my home state is (I only ended up getting good pictures of my dogs #nofilter).
Driving home later that afternoon, with a camera roll full of blurry dogs and unimpressive foliage shots, I was determined to get a nice picture of the view from that bridge back in Abbot. I was too embarrassed to stop the car so I slowed down and tried to get a picture through the window. Low and behold my phone took a picture of my door handle and a glimpse of red and orange beyond smeared glass, and I was too busy finding the camera button on my phone to even see the view again myself.
I remember coming across a caption somewhere on Instagram along the lines of “if you need to use a filter, find a better view.” Take it all in—some sights don’t need to be shared. A picture is a picture, and while a picture may encourage a memory it will never take the place of the real thing. Make sure to really see your world before you habitually snap and post pictures of it. Don’t get me wrong, I love Instagram (probably way more than I should) and I am totally guilty of Instagramming everything remotely interesting in my life, but I am slowly recognizing that it often distracts my eyes from what they should be seeing and that’s the trouble with it.
