5 ms·

Not a single person living in the moment

35 points by hackerbeat 3y ago

rideontime 3y ago
Look at those blue check replies. Squirrels enjoying saxophones? What the hell happened to twitter?
ejb999 3y ago
Its pretty sad isn't it? Decades ago I used to travel a lot and always brought a camera with me (SLR + lenses) - only ever 'saw' things thru the lens, missing the opportunity to be in the moment - I woke up to what was happening and now I rarely photograph places or events when I am experiencing them - if I want an awesome photo to look at of some noteworthy place or event, I can find thousands on line, many taken by people much more talented than me. I feel like people don't really experience their lives anymore - they document them for social media and clicks. Goto the L'ouvre in France, and there are hundreds of people waiting in line and jamming into the space in front of the Mona Lisa to get a picture of the painting (or more specifically selfies of them standing in a crowd with the Mona Lisa in the background) - and yet there are huge spaces and exhibits in the building of equally awesome pieces of art and history that people don't even bother to visit
- hotpotamus 3y ago
  I had a similar realization when going to one of the final Space Shuttle launches in 2010. I brought some fairly good camera gear along, but I saw people who had invested staggering amounts in cameras/lenses (or at least spent a decent chunk on renting them) and thought, I'll just watch the thing and then look at theirs if I want to see anything again.
- axelthegerman 3y ago
  > if I want an awesome photo to look at of some noteworthy place or event, I can find thousands on line, many taken by people much more talented than me. 100% would be neat if there was a service surfacing those. On the other hand there is nothing wrong with a quick snapshot and then go on enjoy
- Cthulhu_ 3y ago
  I mean there's multiple ways to enjoy things. You enjoyed photography, then you realised you could also enjoy the trip / experience itself. Both are fine. And you can do both at the same time too. I think tourists taking a picture or recording an event is not even for themselves anymore, it's to post online and get views/likes/engagement.
- nicbou 3y ago
  On the other hand, photography is a hobby on its own. A camera can push you to go out more, pay attention more. I started sketching again because someone reminded me that drawing is the art of noticing. I gave up on photography because I found the camera to get in the way, but I'm not above taking a few good pictures for my own memories. I just don't let it interrupt the moment anymore. I think that social media is the main culprit here. When proving that you have a good time becomes as important as having a good time, your behaviour changes.
- SkyMarshal 3y ago
  I came to the same realization back in the 2000s and stopped obsessively photo'ing everything then too. You can either live in the moment or try to capture it, but rarely both. I'll still snapshot the occasional impressive sunset or other natural scene, but without trying to interpose a selfie on top of it.
  - sottol 3y ago
    Personally, I split my time. I really enjoy a strenuous hike to a point of interest around sunset, setting up, and taking photos of the sunrise or sunset. But that's my personal time and I'm usually alone. On the flip side I usually only take (some) smartphone photos documenting the experience and the people when I'm out in a group. I like the "here's what you did N years ago" collages and reconnecting with the people involved over the shared experience. Trying to combine both usually leads to someone being disappointed, either the photographer because they're rushed or the others because the photog is holding everyone up. I feel like good photos take a lot of planning, time and some luck. But the chase inspires me to get out more and not do the exact same thing everyone else is doing (all the time) to get something even remotely unique. It also requires scouting the locations for a while and finding the right composition takes some exploring the area. Plus, long exposure photography gives you a lot of time to be in the moment when every photo takes a minute to expose and you get to progressively watch the landscape and lighting change waiting for the right time to snap your photos.
- Roark66 3y ago
  I'm the opposite, 20+ years ago I visited places with people that are long dead by now. I can barely remember their faces. I'd love to have some photos from that time.
  - ChatGTP 3y ago
    Use your smart phone to take a few photos, and enjoy the experience, there is a happy medium to be had.
    - Roark66 3y ago
      There was no smartphones back then :-) I think I had a blue Ericsson phone that had a tiny one color lcd display and no camera. Now, things are different, but my argument is specifically that taking photos is does not have to be in contrast to "living in the moment".
gatekpr 3y ago
All of us that would not use our cell phones, and be in the moment, would also likely be home and comfy vs out in that experience. This is the new generation, whatever makes them happy! I'm thankful that I can put my phone down and disconnect.
simonbarker87 3y ago
I don't understand the shaming of how people choose to enjoy an event. Live and let live seems to be a much nicer way to enjoy life. No one there is hurting anyone ... in fact all I see is a lot of people engaged in creating something: a video of their experience. Is it a good video? Maybe, maybe not, but it's their video. Would I film it if I were there? Maybe? I don't know. I tend not to but I don't begrudge others who do.
- spacecadet 3y ago
  Looks awfully bad for the environment? I dont get big shows or any group activity tho...
- ejb999 3y ago
  but did they create a video of their experience? or did they just created the ten thousandth almost identical video that they could find online later and probably of better quality, just so they could post in on their social media to prove to people they were there? Honestly, I don't care what people do, but some should try putting down the camera and enjoying the moment for a change and see if it changes their way of viewing things.
  - yowzadave 3y ago
    This is why the only thing I bother taking photos of is my kids/family. If I'm visiting Delicate Arch, will my photo of it be any better than one of the millions of others I could find instantly by googling? Will I return to that photo and enjoy it later? No. (Actually good photographers, feel free to ignore this comment).
    - 303uru 3y ago
      As a long time amateur photographer, I agree. I had the DSLR, mirrorless, $10s of thousands in lenses, etc... But the reality is I can find a fantastic image of damn near any landscape in seconds. So, instead I get candid photos of my kids and wife in the places we visit. I have yet to feel the need to lookup a photo of a landscape.
arketyp 3y ago
To be fair, the new year's countdown is a simulacrum (Baudrillard) of a moment to begin with. It's the perfect example of a meme without real substance. So people want to save this (hyperreal) moment, share it, fill it with meaning. That's not entirely sad. Consider the reverse. People just standing there staring at a countdown? It would not be hard to travesty that either.
- episteme 3y ago
  I don't know about you but every crowd I've ever known would be chanting down together until midnight and then cheering at the fireworks, not sure where the travesty would be.
  - arketyp 3y ago
    I sketched an example and you countered it. That was my point, about not choosing the cynical perspective.
- thinkingemote 3y ago
  People don't actually save it, or share it, or fill it with meaning by using their phones but they think that's what doing it with their phones is doing. After the moment the content is not looked at. It's a thing to do not to be reviewed. It's recording to not record. It's a way of participation in the world, a mediation of reality. In some way it's a kind of play acting of what a hyper connected human should do in the moment when confronted with something unusual. A cyborg activity. Or it's just because everyone else is doing it!
  - arketyp 3y ago
    Yes, it's performativity. I think going to the Champs-Élysées for the countdown is too. Not anything wrong with it, necessarily.
cantSpellSober 3y ago
https://archive.is/35MML https://archive.is/35MML
newshorts 3y ago
Took the family back to the place where my wife and I met as ski bums (small town in the mountains) We went to a weekly music event and noticed that people were talking, dancing, laughing while the kids were playing in the grass/dirt and climbing trees. Not a single person was filming. Felt nice. Not saying it’s not ok to be on your phone, but it does seem to act as “social armor” allowing people an easy way to avoid full immersion in situations.
thinkingemote 3y ago
The video is not meant as video. It's a shield and the taking of the content is how the shield works. It both protects from and reflects the world. It's not a retreat from the world but a mediation.
- nonrandomstring 3y ago
  We talked at length about Max Ernst's statement "Technology is a way of not having to experience the world" on a Cybershow episode. Specifically about a group of people standing around an injured person or a fight, all filming it as a way to "be there and be involved, without being there or being involved".Indeed, the perfect shield.
AlphaGeekZulu 3y ago
1967, Guy Debord: The Society of the Spectacle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Society_of_the_Spectacle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Society_of_the_Spectacle "Debord traces the development of a modern society in which authentic social life has been replaced with its representation"
- nonrandomstring 3y ago
  Similar to Baudrillard, Great to read Debord and Baudrillard in the same sitting for extra flavour.
b0dhimind 3y ago
People either want to compassionately share the moment with others, which is wonderful and part of our humanity... or they want to build up their ego from it. Maybe both. Most illnesses are like that. Also, let's not completely demonize it because people actually remember moments more when taking pictures.
rrr_oh_man 3y ago
There’s a beautiful book from the 60's, 'Homo Faber', about a Swiss engineer who lives life through technology (mainly a camera lens), but then falls in love, and starts living. I think about that sometimes.

35 points by hackerbeat 3y ago

Look at those blue check replies. Squirrels enjoying saxophones? What the hell happened to twitter?

Its pretty sad isn't it? Decades ago I used to travel a lot and always brought a camera with me (SLR + lenses) - only ever 'saw' things thru the lens, missing the opportunity to be in the moment - I woke up to what was happening and now I rarely photograph places or events when I am experiencing them - if I want an awesome photo to look at of some noteworthy place or event, I can find thousands on line, many taken by people much more talented than me. I feel like people don't really experience their lives anymore - they document them for social media and clicks. Goto the L'ouvre in France, and there are hundreds of people waiting in line and jamming into the space in front of the Mona Lisa to get a picture of the painting (or more specifically selfies of them standing in a crowd with the Mona Lisa in the background) - and yet there are huge spaces and exhibits in the building of equally awesome pieces of art and history that people don't even bother to visit

hotpotamus 3y ago
I had a similar realization when going to one of the final Space Shuttle launches in 2010. I brought some fairly good camera gear along, but I saw people who had invested staggering amounts in cameras/lenses (or at least spent a decent chunk on renting them) and thought, I'll just watch the thing and then look at theirs if I want to see anything again.
axelthegerman 3y ago
> if I want an awesome photo to look at of some noteworthy place or event, I can find thousands on line, many taken by people much more talented than me. 100% would be neat if there was a service surfacing those. On the other hand there is nothing wrong with a quick snapshot and then go on enjoy
Cthulhu_ 3y ago
I mean there's multiple ways to enjoy things. You enjoyed photography, then you realised you could also enjoy the trip / experience itself. Both are fine. And you can do both at the same time too. I think tourists taking a picture or recording an event is not even for themselves anymore, it's to post online and get views/likes/engagement.
nicbou 3y ago
On the other hand, photography is a hobby on its own. A camera can push you to go out more, pay attention more. I started sketching again because someone reminded me that drawing is the art of noticing. I gave up on photography because I found the camera to get in the way, but I'm not above taking a few good pictures for my own memories. I just don't let it interrupt the moment anymore. I think that social media is the main culprit here. When proving that you have a good time becomes as important as having a good time, your behaviour changes.
SkyMarshal 3y ago
I came to the same realization back in the 2000s and stopped obsessively photo'ing everything then too. You can either live in the moment or try to capture it, but rarely both. I'll still snapshot the occasional impressive sunset or other natural scene, but without trying to interpose a selfie on top of it.
- sottol 3y ago
  Personally, I split my time. I really enjoy a strenuous hike to a point of interest around sunset, setting up, and taking photos of the sunrise or sunset. But that's my personal time and I'm usually alone. On the flip side I usually only take (some) smartphone photos documenting the experience and the people when I'm out in a group. I like the "here's what you did N years ago" collages and reconnecting with the people involved over the shared experience. Trying to combine both usually leads to someone being disappointed, either the photographer because they're rushed or the others because the photog is holding everyone up. I feel like good photos take a lot of planning, time and some luck. But the chase inspires me to get out more and not do the exact same thing everyone else is doing (all the time) to get something even remotely unique. It also requires scouting the locations for a while and finding the right composition takes some exploring the area. Plus, long exposure photography gives you a lot of time to be in the moment when every photo takes a minute to expose and you get to progressively watch the landscape and lighting change waiting for the right time to snap your photos.
Roark66 3y ago
I'm the opposite, 20+ years ago I visited places with people that are long dead by now. I can barely remember their faces. I'd love to have some photos from that time.
- ChatGTP 3y ago
  Use your smart phone to take a few photos, and enjoy the experience, there is a happy medium to be had.
  - Roark66 3y ago
    There was no smartphones back then :-) I think I had a blue Ericsson phone that had a tiny one color lcd display and no camera. Now, things are different, but my argument is specifically that taking photos is does not have to be in contrast to "living in the moment".

gatekpr 3y ago

All of us that would not use our cell phones, and be in the moment, would also likely be home and comfy vs out in that experience. This is the new generation, whatever makes them happy! I'm thankful that I can put my phone down and disconnect.

simonbarker87 3y ago

I don't understand the shaming of how people choose to enjoy an event. Live and let live seems to be a much nicer way to enjoy life. No one there is hurting anyone ... in fact all I see is a lot of people engaged in creating something: a video of their experience. Is it a good video? Maybe, maybe not, but it's their video. Would I film it if I were there? Maybe? I don't know. I tend not to but I don't begrudge others who do.

spacecadet 3y ago
Looks awfully bad for the environment? I dont get big shows or any group activity tho...
ejb999 3y ago
but did they create a video of their experience? or did they just created the ten thousandth almost identical video that they could find online later and probably of better quality, just so they could post in on their social media to prove to people they were there? Honestly, I don't care what people do, but some should try putting down the camera and enjoying the moment for a change and see if it changes their way of viewing things.
- yowzadave 3y ago
  This is why the only thing I bother taking photos of is my kids/family. If I'm visiting Delicate Arch, will my photo of it be any better than one of the millions of others I could find instantly by googling? Will I return to that photo and enjoy it later? No. (Actually good photographers, feel free to ignore this comment).
  - 303uru 3y ago
    As a long time amateur photographer, I agree. I had the DSLR, mirrorless, $10s of thousands in lenses, etc... But the reality is I can find a fantastic image of damn near any landscape in seconds. So, instead I get candid photos of my kids and wife in the places we visit. I have yet to feel the need to lookup a photo of a landscape.

arketyp 3y ago

To be fair, the new year's countdown is a simulacrum (Baudrillard) of a moment to begin with. It's the perfect example of a meme without real substance. So people want to save this (hyperreal) moment, share it, fill it with meaning. That's not entirely sad. Consider the reverse. People just standing there staring at a countdown? It would not be hard to travesty that either.

episteme 3y ago
I don't know about you but every crowd I've ever known would be chanting down together until midnight and then cheering at the fireworks, not sure where the travesty would be.
- arketyp 3y ago
  I sketched an example and you countered it. That was my point, about not choosing the cynical perspective.
thinkingemote 3y ago
People don't actually save it, or share it, or fill it with meaning by using their phones but they think that's what doing it with their phones is doing. After the moment the content is not looked at. It's a thing to do not to be reviewed. It's recording to not record. It's a way of participation in the world, a mediation of reality. In some way it's a kind of play acting of what a hyper connected human should do in the moment when confronted with something unusual. A cyborg activity. Or it's just because everyone else is doing it!
- arketyp 3y ago
  Yes, it's performativity. I think going to the Champs-Élysées for the countdown is too. Not anything wrong with it, necessarily.

cantSpellSober 3y ago

https://archive.is/35MML https://archive.is/35MML

newshorts 3y ago

Took the family back to the place where my wife and I met as ski bums (small town in the mountains) We went to a weekly music event and noticed that people were talking, dancing, laughing while the kids were playing in the grass/dirt and climbing trees. Not a single person was filming. Felt nice. Not saying it’s not ok to be on your phone, but it does seem to act as “social armor” allowing people an easy way to avoid full immersion in situations.

thinkingemote 3y ago

The video is not meant as video. It's a shield and the taking of the content is how the shield works. It both protects from and reflects the world. It's not a retreat from the world but a mediation.

nonrandomstring 3y ago
We talked at length about Max Ernst's statement "Technology is a way of not having to experience the world" on a Cybershow episode. Specifically about a group of people standing around an injured person or a fight, all filming it as a way to "be there and be involved, without being there or being involved".Indeed, the perfect shield.

AlphaGeekZulu 3y ago

1967, Guy Debord: The Society of the Spectacle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Society_of_the_Spectacle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Society_of_the_Spectacle "Debord traces the development of a modern society in which authentic social life has been replaced with its representation"

nonrandomstring 3y ago
Similar to Baudrillard, Great to read Debord and Baudrillard in the same sitting for extra flavour.

b0dhimind 3y ago

People either want to compassionately share the moment with others, which is wonderful and part of our humanity... or they want to build up their ego from it. Maybe both. Most illnesses are like that. Also, let's not completely demonize it because people actually remember moments more when taking pictures.

rrr_oh_man 3y ago

There’s a beautiful book from the 60's, 'Homo Faber', about a Swiss engineer who lives life through technology (mainly a camera lens), but then falls in love, and starts living. I think about that sometimes.