8 ms·

> Will browsing your phone anticipating the next notification become a dirty habit that others will shun you for? It is already frowned upon in some social cir

> Will browsing your phone anticipating the next notification become a dirty habit that others will shun you for? It is already frowned upon in some social circles, occasional browsing is okay but some people can go completely off reality when going through their Facebook feed, I have some friends like this(very introverted), when we met at a bar or restaurant we would make a "phones on the table" rule, first to reach for the phone pays the bill. For me, the hyperbole of social media dependency is how it changed travel experiences. People always took photos of travels, but social media put that into comical territory. It is bizarre watching other tourists around, how they navigate from spot to spot to get a picture in some of the most famous places on earth without ever stopping to absorb where they were, they never bothered to understand the history or the architecture behind some place, they have 75 pictures of the same place but probably couldn't tell you the color on the walls five minutes after the picture was taken. I like to stay at hostels and meet other people(especially when traveling alone), there have always been people in their own bubble, but it is crazy how it changed in the last 3-4 years, everyone is so self-envolved on their phones that they are not even aware of their surroundings, you can come in and out of a room without being noticed, I've seen people spend their entire time locked in a room glued to their phones, sometimes even missing meals.

toomanybeersies 9y ago
I'm always having to tell people to put their phones away. I purposely have a really cheap phone, because I don't want to sit on my phone and use social media all day. Sometimes I'll be sitting in a group with a few friends, and I'll be the only one not looking at my phone. I have to tell them to stop trying to socialise with people hundreds of miles away, when there's people right here. As for travel, I've never bothered taking photos of landmarks, everyone has seen pictures of them before, probably better pictures than I can take.
- dbshshbdbd 9y ago
  In many situations I am on my phone so that I don't need to talk to anyone. I'm in the social circumstance for some other reason beyond my control.
  - zamber 9y ago
    This pretty much explains the public transport situation. I listen to podcasts for the same reason, especially during my commute and in shops. Once I get to work I ditch my earbuds and put on closed over-ear headphones (active noise canceling would be nice but I'm too cheap for it).
drdeadringer 9y ago
I'm finding recently that whenever I am taking a picture or video at a live event I think to myself "I am experiencing this awesome thing through a small screen, what am I doing?". If it's a video I alleviate myself by darting my eyes off and on the screen to make sure the framing is still good until I'm done. I don't regret the photos or videos afterwards, and I do aim for a healthy balance. The reminder is still there though -- I'm there for the live experience, so I should act like it.
- ChrisLTD 9y ago
  I allow myself one photo, good or bad, and then I let myself experience the event unmediated. I usually go to live events to escape staring at a screen, so taking pictures or videos the entire time defeats the purpose.
mannykannot 9y ago
This reminds me of an momentarily disturbing incident quite a few years ago. We were in a gothic cathedral when a large group came through the door. As one, they each raised a straight arm as if at a Nazi rally, and it took me a second to realize they were all using their compact digital cameras (a recent development at the time) to take pictures of the stained glass windows of the apse. We have mostly stopped photographing our travels in favor of experiencing them, some time after the images became essentially write-only files.
- 13of40 9y ago
  I've had the reverse experience: When I first went on vacation with my wife about 10 years back, I was appalled at how much time she wasted taking pictures, but now I'm at a point where I want to scrape through all of my old media and find the old pictures I know I must still have.
- mrisoli 9y ago
  For me the weirdest was the Coliseum I think, I took a few pictures myself then started wandering around, looking at the details, trying to see a little bit of what I couldn't get in history books or Google. After a while, I started noticing people around me, they ported their phones from each of the more popular photo spots and went on to take between 10-60 selfies with slightly varying angles or facial expressions, upon finishing their session not once did they turn back and looked to see where they were. Also when going to museums saw a lot of people going from display to display, photographing the artifacts/paintings, sometimes they also photograph the description and they won't actually read it.
grecy 9y ago
I have a dream to open a bar (or hostel) that is a massive Faraday cage so that phones and laptops on wifi simply don't work. I'd call it "The Stone Age" or some similar pun. (Yes, I would put up a sign to that effect notifying people - if they don't like it they can go elsewhere)
- airza 9y ago
  Even though i don't care for it in a movie theatre, the FCC has traditionally taken a pretty dim view of trying to block someone's authorized radio communications.
  - sk5t 9y ago
    Harmful interference is one thing, but a radio-quiet room?
    - bennettfeely 9y ago
      I think the idea is cool, but I have a feeling there would be quite a legal battle that ensues when someone is injured or dies in the hostel after they couldn't connect to 911.
      - bduerst 9y ago
        Just put a pay phone in the back, and make people who stay initial that they acknowledge there is no cellular service.
      - flukus 9y ago
        Train tunnels, underground car parks and other reception black spots seem to have avoided litigation. Have we really reach the point where going outside to get reception is not something a reasonable person would think of?
        lawless123 9y ago
        None of those are deliberate though.
kdbg 9y ago
> It is bizarre watching other tourists around, how they navigate from spot to spot to get a picture in some of the most famous places on earth without ever stopping to absorb where they were, they never bothered to understand the history or the architecture behind some place, they have 75 pictures of the same place but probably couldn't tell you the color on the walls five minutes after the picture was taken. I'm kinda this. Honestly though, for the most part I really don't care about whatever famous place I'm at, I'm just there because I know when I get back someone is going to ask did I go to X, Y or Z. So I go, I do that thing to check it off my list and spend my time doing what i actually want, which is usually more nature oriented (wilderness backpacking) and less touristy. I actually pretty much dislike going to the big tourist areas, and want to get done with it as fast as possible so I don't soak it in unless I have a real desire to be there.
- isoskeles 9y ago
  Why do you feel the need to go just so you can respond "yes" to someone asking you if you went to X, Y, or Z? I'm not asking as a criticism, just curious. It sounds like this is what many other people are doing, but perhaps they're not aware of their motivation.
my_first_acct 9y ago
General rule of tourist photography: When you look at photos you took 10 years ago, you discover that photos of places are boring. Photos of people you know are precious. Aim your camera accordingly.
- blubb-fish 9y ago
  I made the same observation. If I want to take a pic of a building or a monument, I try to get my girlfriend somewhere on the photo. It does make a difference.
  - mrisoli 9y ago
    I have the same feeling, I consider I don't usually need a picture(or a bunch) of a place by itself, these days you can Google better pictures of anything TBH, but pictures of you and the people you're with are unique.
    - blubb-fish 9y ago
      It's really weird that people take pictures of something that they just have to google and they'll find hundreds.
- saiya-jin 9y ago
  That is your perception, but for example not mine. It all depends on quality of the photo, what it covers, what kind of memories it brings back. I have above my bed a big panoramatic picture taken from 5000m altitude in nepal in 2008, on a hike around Annapurna massif. Not a single pixel covers any living person nor animal. But it means so much to me, brings so many memories that I smile every time I look at it (actually glad I didn't include my ex-gf in it, fiancee probably wouldn't enjoy staring at her every morning :)) The problem I see, most people can't take half decent pictures (ignoring golden ratio, blurry, lack of general composition etc.) so unless the picture captures something extraordinary, it's not that interesting to come back to it.
- KineticLensman 9y ago
DanielBMarkham 9y ago
"...It is bizarre watching other tourists around, how they navigate from spot to spot to get a picture in some of the most famous places on earth without ever stopping to absorb where they were..." I took a class in photography once, taught by a famous photographer. About half-way through the course he did a dead stop, turned to the class and said something like "The most important part of photography is learning when to put the camera down and enjoy the moment instead of trying to capture it" He then took us on a short tour of important life events he had missed out on because he was too busy trying to get the picture. It was a poignant moment, and a good lesson.
- FeloniousHam 9y ago
  The craziest are pictures that don't contain any personal context, just snaps of architecture or scenery. The same photo has been taken a million times, a personal snap is indistinguishable from thousands available from a Google image search (a probably of lower quality).

toomanybeersies 9y ago

I'm always having to tell people to put their phones away. I purposely have a really cheap phone, because I don't want to sit on my phone and use social media all day. Sometimes I'll be sitting in a group with a few friends, and I'll be the only one not looking at my phone. I have to tell them to stop trying to socialise with people hundreds of miles away, when there's people right here. As for travel, I've never bothered taking photos of landmarks, everyone has seen pictures of them before, probably better pictures than I can take.

dbshshbdbd 9y ago
In many situations I am on my phone so that I don't need to talk to anyone. I'm in the social circumstance for some other reason beyond my control.
- zamber 9y ago
  This pretty much explains the public transport situation. I listen to podcasts for the same reason, especially during my commute and in shops. Once I get to work I ditch my earbuds and put on closed over-ear headphones (active noise canceling would be nice but I'm too cheap for it).

drdeadringer 9y ago

I'm finding recently that whenever I am taking a picture or video at a live event I think to myself "I am experiencing this awesome thing through a small screen, what am I doing?". If it's a video I alleviate myself by darting my eyes off and on the screen to make sure the framing is still good until I'm done. I don't regret the photos or videos afterwards, and I do aim for a healthy balance. The reminder is still there though -- I'm there for the live experience, so I should act like it.

ChrisLTD 9y ago
I allow myself one photo, good or bad, and then I let myself experience the event unmediated. I usually go to live events to escape staring at a screen, so taking pictures or videos the entire time defeats the purpose.

mannykannot 9y ago

This reminds me of an momentarily disturbing incident quite a few years ago. We were in a gothic cathedral when a large group came through the door. As one, they each raised a straight arm as if at a Nazi rally, and it took me a second to realize they were all using their compact digital cameras (a recent development at the time) to take pictures of the stained glass windows of the apse. We have mostly stopped photographing our travels in favor of experiencing them, some time after the images became essentially write-only files.

13of40 9y ago
I've had the reverse experience: When I first went on vacation with my wife about 10 years back, I was appalled at how much time she wasted taking pictures, but now I'm at a point where I want to scrape through all of my old media and find the old pictures I know I must still have.
mrisoli 9y ago
For me the weirdest was the Coliseum I think, I took a few pictures myself then started wandering around, looking at the details, trying to see a little bit of what I couldn't get in history books or Google. After a while, I started noticing people around me, they ported their phones from each of the more popular photo spots and went on to take between 10-60 selfies with slightly varying angles or facial expressions, upon finishing their session not once did they turn back and looked to see where they were. Also when going to museums saw a lot of people going from display to display, photographing the artifacts/paintings, sometimes they also photograph the description and they won't actually read it.

grecy 9y ago

I have a dream to open a bar (or hostel) that is a massive Faraday cage so that phones and laptops on wifi simply don't work. I'd call it "The Stone Age" or some similar pun. (Yes, I would put up a sign to that effect notifying people - if they don't like it they can go elsewhere)

airza 9y ago
Even though i don't care for it in a movie theatre, the FCC has traditionally taken a pretty dim view of trying to block someone's authorized radio communications.
- sk5t 9y ago
  Harmful interference is one thing, but a radio-quiet room?
  - bennettfeely 9y ago
    I think the idea is cool, but I have a feeling there would be quite a legal battle that ensues when someone is injured or dies in the hostel after they couldn't connect to 911.
    - bduerst 9y ago
      Just put a pay phone in the back, and make people who stay initial that they acknowledge there is no cellular service.
    - flukus 9y ago
      Train tunnels, underground car parks and other reception black spots seem to have avoided litigation. Have we really reach the point where going outside to get reception is not something a reasonable person would think of?
      - lawless123 9y ago
        None of those are deliberate though.

kdbg 9y ago

> It is bizarre watching other tourists around, how they navigate from spot to spot to get a picture in some of the most famous places on earth without ever stopping to absorb where they were, they never bothered to understand the history or the architecture behind some place, they have 75 pictures of the same place but probably couldn't tell you the color on the walls five minutes after the picture was taken. I'm kinda this. Honestly though, for the most part I really don't care about whatever famous place I'm at, I'm just there because I know when I get back someone is going to ask did I go to X, Y or Z. So I go, I do that thing to check it off my list and spend my time doing what i actually want, which is usually more nature oriented (wilderness backpacking) and less touristy. I actually pretty much dislike going to the big tourist areas, and want to get done with it as fast as possible so I don't soak it in unless I have a real desire to be there.

isoskeles 9y ago
Why do you feel the need to go just so you can respond "yes" to someone asking you if you went to X, Y, or Z? I'm not asking as a criticism, just curious. It sounds like this is what many other people are doing, but perhaps they're not aware of their motivation.

my_first_acct 9y ago

General rule of tourist photography: When you look at photos you took 10 years ago, you discover that photos of places are boring. Photos of people you know are precious. Aim your camera accordingly.

blubb-fish 9y ago
I made the same observation. If I want to take a pic of a building or a monument, I try to get my girlfriend somewhere on the photo. It does make a difference.
- mrisoli 9y ago
  I have the same feeling, I consider I don't usually need a picture(or a bunch) of a place by itself, these days you can Google better pictures of anything TBH, but pictures of you and the people you're with are unique.
  - blubb-fish 9y ago
    It's really weird that people take pictures of something that they just have to google and they'll find hundreds.
saiya-jin 9y ago
That is your perception, but for example not mine. It all depends on quality of the photo, what it covers, what kind of memories it brings back. I have above my bed a big panoramatic picture taken from 5000m altitude in nepal in 2008, on a hike around Annapurna massif. Not a single pixel covers any living person nor animal. But it means so much to me, brings so many memories that I smile every time I look at it (actually glad I didn't include my ex-gf in it, fiancee probably wouldn't enjoy staring at her every morning :)) The problem I see, most people can't take half decent pictures (ignoring golden ratio, blurry, lack of general composition etc.) so unless the picture captures something extraordinary, it's not that interesting to come back to it.
KineticLensman 9y ago

DanielBMarkham 9y ago

"...It is bizarre watching other tourists around, how they navigate from spot to spot to get a picture in some of the most famous places on earth without ever stopping to absorb where they were..." I took a class in photography once, taught by a famous photographer. About half-way through the course he did a dead stop, turned to the class and said something like "The most important part of photography is learning when to put the camera down and enjoy the moment instead of trying to capture it" He then took us on a short tour of important life events he had missed out on because he was too busy trying to get the picture. It was a poignant moment, and a good lesson.

FeloniousHam 9y ago
The craziest are pictures that don't contain any personal context, just snaps of architecture or scenery. The same photo has been taken a million times, a personal snap is indistinguishable from thousands available from a Google image search (a probably of lower quality).