4 ms·

I am always a smidge skeptical about the Times and trend pieces, especially about the kids these days. Culture is so atomized and fragmented that I don’t know i

I am always a smidge skeptical about the Times and trend pieces, especially about the kids these days. Culture is so atomized and fragmented that I don’t know if we really have fads now. But if it is a trend: yeah, that won’t last. I am an old Millennial, we had the analogous trend of shooting with instant film cameras and Polaroids. And then that trend fadedaway, because that isn’t what photos “are” now. Photos used to be a semi-scarce good—cost a lot per individual photo, and you had to wait for results. But now that photography is absolutely 100% ubiquitous, everywhere, photos are the most base commodity, and though you think you will appreciate these less-than-instant photos, the novelty fades away.

schwartzworld 4y ago
Photos are every where, but the ability to screen out the less than perfect ones has lead to everybody's photos looking the same. Background bokeh, perfect smiles. Most of the pictures I have from my teen years would not have made the cut, but the weird ones often represent memories better than a million perfect phone pictures.
- asdff 4y ago
  On top of that, people insist you take a dozen photos of anything at all. If someone asks you to take their photo today, and you take just one and hand the phone back, you are seen as a sort of gruff asshole. Then the phone itself is recording a video for each photo, so you now have 30 frames to choose for each photo.
  - Kaibeezy 4y ago
    In college, I used to take formal portraits of friends, including developing and printing with chemicals in a darkroom, old school. My rule of thumb was we'd be lucky to get one good shot out of a roll of 36, even with careful choice of pose, costume, location, background, lighting, and generally knowing what I was doing.
    - asdff 4y ago
      Yeah if there is something gumming up the process people will understand. No one asks for a retake with a polaroid for example.
trynewideas 4y ago
Aside from that, the process will probably just be: - Trend inspires camera apps that recreate the effect - One app takes off - NYTimes publishes a trend piece on the app that takes off - Olds start using this app unironically - It falls out of fashion - Everyone forgets it ever happened, again Which seems likely considering this part of the story: > But the comments by despairing millennials and people with more modern tastes were overwhelmed by those where users had tagged their friends and asked how to upload photos from their digital camera to their smartphone. Eliminate the hassle and kids will do it more, then it'll go mainstream, then kids get sick of it, dump it, come up with another clunky old/dumb/cool, unhad-nostalgia revival (plush animals with audio recorders! portable TVs! leisure suits! uncut cocaine!), and repeat the cycle. Every NYT trend piece reports it breathlessly, like this one is the one that's gonna stick.
danielfoster 4y ago
It’s definitely a more refined type of clickbait— a step above the local news reporting on some fake drug trend. But film is alive and well! A more accurate title for this might be, “Group of Gen Z people discover new hobby.”
grishka 4y ago
I'm a younger millennial. Instant cameras are definitely a thing around me, but not a trend. It's more like someone buying an Instax and shooting with it every now and then just for the sake of experience of it. FWIW I know more people who shoot on film than with instant cameras.

schwartzworld 4y ago

Photos are every where, but the ability to screen out the less than perfect ones has lead to everybody's photos looking the same. Background bokeh, perfect smiles. Most of the pictures I have from my teen years would not have made the cut, but the weird ones often represent memories better than a million perfect phone pictures.

asdff 4y ago
On top of that, people insist you take a dozen photos of anything at all. If someone asks you to take their photo today, and you take just one and hand the phone back, you are seen as a sort of gruff asshole. Then the phone itself is recording a video for each photo, so you now have 30 frames to choose for each photo.
- Kaibeezy 4y ago
  In college, I used to take formal portraits of friends, including developing and printing with chemicals in a darkroom, old school. My rule of thumb was we'd be lucky to get one good shot out of a roll of 36, even with careful choice of pose, costume, location, background, lighting, and generally knowing what I was doing.
  - asdff 4y ago
    Yeah if there is something gumming up the process people will understand. No one asks for a retake with a polaroid for example.

trynewideas 4y ago

Aside from that, the process will probably just be: - Trend inspires camera apps that recreate the effect - One app takes off - NYTimes publishes a trend piece on the app that takes off - Olds start using this app unironically - It falls out of fashion - Everyone forgets it ever happened, again Which seems likely considering this part of the story: > But the comments by despairing millennials and people with more modern tastes were overwhelmed by those where users had tagged their friends and asked how to upload photos from their digital camera to their smartphone. Eliminate the hassle and kids will do it more, then it'll go mainstream, then kids get sick of it, dump it, come up with another clunky old/dumb/cool, unhad-nostalgia revival (plush animals with audio recorders! portable TVs! leisure suits! uncut cocaine!), and repeat the cycle. Every NYT trend piece reports it breathlessly, like this one is the one that's gonna stick.

danielfoster 4y ago

It’s definitely a more refined type of clickbait— a step above the local news reporting on some fake drug trend. But film is alive and well! A more accurate title for this might be, “Group of Gen Z people discover new hobby.”

grishka 4y ago

I'm a younger millennial. Instant cameras are definitely a thing around me, but not a trend. It's more like someone buying an Instax and shooting with it every now and then just for the sake of experience of it. FWIW I know more people who shoot on film than with instant cameras.