4 ms·
4 in 10 travellers visit tourist sites to capture social media content
- xvxvx 2mo agoI used to be an avid amateur photographer and took a backpack full of gear anytime I’d visit tourist sites or anywhere cool. After a few years I stopped altogether because it dawned on me that I was missing the experience entirely. Now I just snap a few pics with my phone and try to enjoy the experience. Never did it for social media cred though.
- royal__ 2mo agoSee, I think that's cool. It's like a hobby or craft that you're invested in. It feels different from taking lame photos with your smart phone just for the cred.
- owebmaster 2mo agoThey only difference is your judgement. The person taking lame photos want to turn that into an interesting hobby too.
- ryukoposting 2mo agoI'm the same way. It's hard to explain to loved ones why I take so many pictures of fucked up industrial buildings 10 minutes from my home, but don't bring any cameras with me when I travel. When I'm in a new place, I want to be present within that place.
- klodolph 2mo agoI likewise used to bring a backpack full of gear, but I think the experience of traveling and taking pictures over and over again with the Big Nice Camera did a lot to hone my skills as a photographer. I have photos I’m genuinely happy with, years later.
- dllu 2mo agoI feel like taking pictures is a fun experience in itself. For me, it isn't really "missing the experience". If anything, it makes me pay more attention to the amazing view and details that I'd have otherwise missed as I try to line up the shot perfectly.
- etrautmann 2mo agoI feel the same way, though I recognize it’s possible for me to get too caught up in taking a photo to appreciate the full breadth of a scene. Like everything, some balance is appropriate
- tclancy 2mo ago2 in 5. I remember when this site was exclusively hard math.
- danpalmer 2mo agoI remember when people knew the posting guidelines. > Otherwise please use the original title, unless it is misleading or linkbait; don't editorialize.
- tclancy 2mo agoA. Sarcasm, a light roasting of the history of similar posts B. Arguably misleading. I know what 2 in 5 is off-hand. 4 in 10 is some metric bullshit I don’t want to understand.
- fc417fc802 2mo ago400k ppm
- anukin 2mo agoI think the social media content is fine. The issue is when a content creator feels entitled to the complete tourist site over others.
- JSR_FDED 2mo agoYou haven’t truly experienced an exceptional vantage point until you hear the influencer next to you say to his cameraman “Does my hair look windswept and interesting?”
- khazhoux 2mo agoBut were you influenced?
- Bombthecat 2mo agoI would have thought it's more. Feels like everyone is taking pictures to post. Not to remember
- lazide 2mo agoIt’s about the competition. The actual experience is secondary.
- tgv 2mo agoIt's imitation, I think. Influencers traveling for clout isn't exactly new, and they got it from existing conventions on social media. So now everybody feels compelled to do the same, or they'll have something to explain.
- TMWNN 2mo agoHighly relevant: "I am an Instagram boyfriend" <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYaz6LVnKIk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYaz6LVnKIk>
- seydor 2mo agoBeaches are full of people taking photos for an hour and ending up not swimming
- pmontra 2mo agoMaybe they don't like swimming. I don't. However it's really rare that I end up on a beach. Four times in the last 7 years? The first beach of them really deserved some pictures.
- teekert 2mo agoWas recently in Borneo, picked up a magazine in an accommodation, read an article about how traveling nowadays needs to be documented and is about experience as much as your feeds... I... felt old. I think that in some cultures it's even more than others, for example I often saw hordes of Chinese tourists (but there are of course simply a lot of Chinese people) take turns in front of a waterfall (on flip flop or even heels), have some pics taken and go back to the bus. I also visited food-markets and saw food stalls with large lines of people, where as some had hardly any people waiting, I ask: Why this stall? "It's popular on Chinese social media"... One by one they snapped a pic as the cook made their meal, and waited for >30 mins to do so. People ask me when I travel (with family usually): Where is your Polarsteps? My what now? (Yeah yeah I know what it is I just pretend I don't.) Amazing. Edit: Also amazes me that many people told me: "Wow 5 weeks in Malaysia, you could have done Thailand, Vietnam, etc, etc as well!" Well yeah but I like to take some days to explore and not rush and get to know a nice restaurant and eat there again and rent a scooter or bike and drive around a bit. And sleep 2 nights in some small village that doesn't have a large temple or something and eat a great meal there for 2 euros, made by people that are very proud that you as a tourist sat down at their place and don't accept any tip. Moreover, there is a boatload of cool stuff in every country, to me this country hopping just adds travel time, not much more. Next time we'll visit another country, and if not, I still rather experience one country more deeply. Another edit: Also an amazing thing, the amount of couples where the guy is holding a phone, making of a video of the girl while she dreamily walks through the sea waving her arms slowly, just looking around. Like a perfume commercial (what's up with those anyway?!), or like Hillary Clinton when the balloons fell. A-ma-zing, what a species we are.
- pmontra 2mo agoI really didn't know about Polarsteps. It's been a while since my last long journey. I used to select some pictures when I got back home and upload them to both my website and Facebook (the only time in the year I still used FB.) I also sent a few pictures to some friends of mine on WhatsApp when I was still travelling.
- teekert 2mo ago
- userbinator 2mo agoBefore social media, they would be taking photos (and later videos) just the same. In fact, before they became ubiquitous in phones, people used to buy cameras (and extra film) specifically for the purpose of using them in their travels.
- eesmith 2mo agoThe survey result is 'nearly four in ten travellers (39%) say they have visited a tourist site mainly to take a photo or record a video.' You, I believe, are making a different observation, which is that taking a photo or recording a film has long been a component of many tourist trips. Which is of course true. I'll add that likely more people would have done so had film and film development been a lot cheaper. We certainly did trips in the 1980s where we took no camera, or if we did, only a few pictures or perhaps a single roll.
- rhdunn 2mo agoDigital cameras have existed before phones had the capability and have been around for a long time (at least 20 years). They made it a lot easier to take photos as you can take hundreds/thousands of photos and download them when you get home. When visiting places on holiday, I've taken my camera with me for the purpose of taking photos. I've also seen people with more expensive cameras (mainly larger lenses) camped out near puffins, on boat trips, etc. with the intention of getting a decent wildlife photo.
- eesmith 2mo agoYes, photo safaris have been a thing since at least the 1960s, when it was all film cameras, and the term "shutterbugs" used since at least the 1940s. Indeed, now that you bring it up, I think a good interpretation of this survey is that more people now are doing photo safaris than they did some decades ago, where "safari" takes on a broader meaning tied to popular culture trends. It think it's like how many people go to the Louvre for the sole purpose of seeing (and photographing) the Mona Lisa, or (more distantly) the standard itinerary of the Grand Tour, both done because that's what everyone else (that they care about) thinks is the right or cool thing to do.
- dllu 2mo agoI travel to tourist sites to take the exact same photo that is taken thousands of times every day because I have an above-average camera so I can take better quality photos than most other people lol
- jezzamon 2mo agoThe article's headline has a bit of a slant: "Nearly four in ten respondents, 39%, admit they have visited a tourist site mainly to take a photo or video." ... That doesn't mean that it's just for social media
- sakjur 2mo agoAnd the singular makes a huge difference there. If I'm a hundred meters away from a tourist site that I'm not overly interested in but can snatch a quick picture to send to friends? Well sure. I'd admit to that. I visited the world's largest paving stone in Brussels to grab a picture for a friend who had told me about it. > For 18% of respondents, an obsession with photos and social media can be considered a red flag when choosing a travel companion. This is the number that surprised me. I'd thought that would be much higher.
- madaxe_again 2mo agoYeah, it does, as this behaviour was unknown previously. A camera was an accessory, not the focus of your trip. Amazed by the number of kids on this thread going “but it’s always been like this!” - much like they always assume I had social media as a kid. In the 80s.
- Markoff 2mo agopoint is still same, they visit the site not for the interest in site itself, but to take the photo and that's pretty stupid reason to visit any site, though yeah "mainly" is doing there some heavy lifting
- walrus01 2mo agoEvery so often I see a news article about an instagram influencer that literally like, rolls off the side of a volcano while trying to capture "content", and I think to myself "well, I'm not surprised". https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=influencer+falls+off+volcano https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=influence...
- flowerthoughts 2mo agoThe nice thing about others taking photos, is that I can focus on the odd ones. I have photos of really well made knots on a guiding rope, and street gutter stones. You wanna see what Venice looks like in general? Just go on Tiktok; they have better equipment anyway. You wanna see, up close, the nicely carved gutter stones that handles water without breaking the stone pattern? I'm your photographer.
- Jyaif 2mo agoIf you do take a long-distance trip, the easiest way to cut carbon impact is to just not post about it. Social networks feed the envy that drives consumerism.
- Markoff 2mo agoHighly relevant advice if you want to cut your carbon footprint :-) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcx-nf3kH_M https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcx-nf3kH_M
- Aurornis 2mo agoLet people enjoy things. If people want to visit a place, take some photos, and leave, then I don't believe that's morally inferior to someone who visits the same place but doesn't take photos. People enjoy tourist destinations differently and that's fine. At this point, I'm more annoyed by the people who make a display of their sense of superiority over people taking photos or otherwise not enjoying the tourist destination in their approved way. Everyone has the same right to be there, IMO.
- foxglacier 2mo agoI didn't get any sense of criticism or judgement from the article. I'll add that New Zealand's government does see influencer photography as morally inferior. You're not free to use the otherwise public national parks for commercial activity, which includes taking photos you're going to post on social media if you're a paid influencer. They have some permit process and you have to pay a fee for the privilege.
- Markoff 2mo agoI think you missed the point, they say 4 in 10 "people want to visit a place TO take some photos", not to take photos while visiting, but visit TO take the photos as primary reason of the visit
- Aurornis 2mo agoSo what? Photography is some people’s hobby. Taking a little adventure to get a new photo is fun. Let them enjoy it.
- cindyllm 2mo ago[dead]
- dylan604 2mo agowhatever happened to reduce your fractions? does 4 in 10 "sound better" than 2 in 5?
- teekert 2mo agoHmm, actually.. yes?
- Markoff 2mo agosomething something people being used to decimal system personally I prefer exact percentages instead of fractions, but apparently people in news/PR disagree with me
- dylan604 2mo agoThat was the other question 4 in 10, 2 in 5, or 40%. Do the numbers actually affect the reader's understanding? It's not like we're measuring length with school buses or anything with a physical reference. Does using a number of people in a group actually make it easier to grok by the public? "Think of 10 of your friends and now imagine 4 of them are..." except, I couldn't count 10 friends so 2 in 5 might be better!
- riffraff 2mo agoLess than I expected? I was in Japan with my family last year and I deeply enjoyed taking pictures of people queued up to take "that perfect instagramnable picture": a person alone in the torii gate, with a hundred people in a line just outside the frame. I'm sure they enjoyed the trip just as well as I did tho.
- brador 2mo agoWith AI now you don’t even need to travel. I wonder if this will impact the travel industry.
- khangtong988 2mo ago[flagged]
- julianfurchert 2mo ago[dead]
- xnx 2mo agoAlternate headline: Most don't visit tourist sites to capture social media content
- mikewarot 2mo agoI think the causation is backwards here. If you find yourself in a memorable or interesting scene, you're going to want to document it. I've wore out a DSLR doing this before social media really was a thing. I've taken way more photos since a derecho decimated the trees in my town. I wanted to share these experiences with my distant friends and family. I also learned that the utility bill I thought was way too high was a pittance compared to the cost in terms of money, time and effort running a gasoline generator.