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> On the face of it, it’s a somewhat absurd concept. Imagine tourists flocking to a famous beauty spot, only to turn around and fix their eyes on its reflection

• jfengel 6y ago
  At least with the smartphone, you're taking a picture you can look at later, and share with friends. It does seem odd living your life though the lens of expecting it to be future. But it really highlights the oddity of sightseeing at all: what's the point of going to look at a thing? OK, it's the Eiffel Tower, or kudus at the zoo. And... now what? Perhaps the greatest example of this is the Mona Lisa. You go to see a painting that you've seen a thousand times before, and seen more clearly. What else are you going to do but grab proof that you actually did it? I've been in places that were unutterably beautiful or heart-wrenchingly meaningful. One of my most treasured photos is a piece of cave art that moved me to tears... though I couldn't get a good photo in the darkness. My photo is of a postcard in the gift shop. (I was backpacking and didn't want to carry stuff, but I did make a donation.) That kind of thing easily becomes habit. "I took a picture of the meaningful thing, so maybe if I take a picture of this the meaning of the experience will become clear later". Tourism often leaves me feeling like I missed something. I've tried to get better at it, both by letting myself feel nothing when the site turns out to be unimportant to me, and by looking for things I didn't expect.