[jeremymcanally]

I see this every time I go to Disney World (I live nearby). It's almost impossible to enjoy a single ride or fireworks show without a ton of people videoing the whole thing or taking horrible pictures of it with a smart device of some sort. Rather than enjoying it and capturing some deep memory of a moment with their family, they have their face stuck in a digital device capturing a crude facsimile of the experience that they will likely never look at ever again.

I will never forget when a dad was trying to get a good shot of Cinderella Castle and totally missed out on their daughter meeting a princess (I think Tiana from Princess and the Frog was walking over to her character spot or something) for the first time. Hugely important moment for his daughter completely and utterly squandered in chasing this lifecasted copy of life. She was excitedly jumping up and down and waving to and got a big hug from the princess, and her dad was swatting her off at first, then completely ignoring her.

I've lived here (Orlando) for two years and it's only getting worse. I've almost given up on being able to ride Pirates of the Carribbean and being able to experience it the way the Imagineers wanted you to. The constant flash and glowing screens from people posting pictures of the Jack Sparrow animatronic on Facebook completely ruin it. Fireworks are an exercise in frustration as some joker always sticks his iPad in the air to try to capture a picture. When the first one looks terrible (as they all do), he tries over and over and over. By the time he's frustrated enough that he's not getting good pictures, the show is over and he's just missed the whole thing.

It's depressing to think how many other experiences people are cheapening and/or missing out on simply because they feel some weird compulsion to SHARE the experience with others rather than LIVE it.

[jblock]

There is the off-chance that the effort to capture these experiences leads a parent to get a picture of that child meeting her favorite princess or a snapshot of their son seeing a fireworks show at Disneyworld for the first time.

There's a difference between mindless capture and capture with a purpose. Some people do it terribly (I've been to a few really nice restaurants, and have had the experience nearly ruined by my friends' attempts to take snapshots of the admittedly beautiful meals), but that shouldn't dissuade the idea of wanting to capture an important cultural experience. Hell, I've never been to Disneyworld, and you'd bet your ass that I'd want a picture with Mickey.

[Leynos]

I can't bring myself to take photos of my meals in restaurants, no matter how beautiful the food it. It just seems too impolite. And in a strange way, I feel bad about this.

[firefoxman1]

I'm in complete agreement with both you and the author on this subject. In fact, I've been intentionally without a smartphone for close to 2 years now. I recently had a similar experience on a trip. I'll try to keep it short:

Recently I took a trip to San Francisco for the first time (and I'll admit I brought my deactivated Palm Pre along to take some vids). On my third day there I came upon a guy making a cool form of street art: he wrote his own quote-able thoughts on masking tape and stuck it on a piece of sidewalk. I'd say a quarter of a block was covered in this guy's thoughts.

I started taking pictures like a typical tourist, then I met the guy making the art. As I got to asking him about where he got his ideas and such, something occured to me: nobody else was even noticing this art. I asked him why and he said "oh, a lot of people are too absorbed in their phones to stop and enjoy what's around them." I promptly put my phone away, but he had already noticed it. To him I looked like a typical teenager obsessed with my phone. "So where are you from?" he asked. He knew I wasn't from around there just by the fact that I stopped to enjoy his art. It was a little depressing, and it reminded me why I gave up that amazing Palm Pre. But hey, at least I captured a few moments on camera I would have forgotten otherwise.

[mikescar]

It's pretty easy to own a smartphone and not go around acting like a jerk who isn't aware of the surroundings. You can drive a car without talking on it. If the phone rings, beeps, or vibrates, you can even ignore it.

[gtirloni]

I suspect that for a lot of people, the temptation is just too strong so they would rather get rid of the thing than try to ignore, etc.

I'm doing this with Facebook. I know it sucks, I never get anything out of it but just the idea that something there is going on and I'm missing it, makes me want to login and check my timeline. It's stupid I know.. so instead of fighting myself I joined 1) the fact that I KNOW it sucks and I'm not getting anything from it and 2) that I can't be trusted to ignore life's stupid distractions.. so I deleted my account. I have not missed it any bit and I'm achieving my goal.

[takluyver]

The bit about fireworks resonates especially: unless you've got good equipment and know how to use it, photos/videos of fireworks are almost always rubbish. The whole point is that they're huge, loud, dramatic and fleeting - none of which you can easily record.

[Xcelerate]

I was at a dance club the other night. I saw a couple sitting in the corner. They didn't dance at all. They just sat there looking depressed. A little later I noticed they had their phones out and were taking photos of each other as though they were having a big time partying. Then they put their phones away and left.

[sojacques]

This is the world we live in. A world where being seen enjoying something matters more than actually doing it. People's need for social validation is so strong it sometimes saddens me.

The positive point is that we (as in, hackers) are on the side of building things and solving (although sometimes artificial) problems, so we can at least make what we can to benefit from people's behavior.

[rsl7]

Me: we have to get home before the hurricane.

My wife: hold on, I have to get a picture of WAWA.

Me: ... why?

My wife: I checked in!

Me: But why do you need a picture?

My wife: so the timeline looks good!

Me: ...

[ejdyksen]

This is why I tell people that my (pretty large) Nikon D7000 is unobtrusive. Though it may be physically large, it doesn't get in the way of whatever I'm actually doing.

I can put it up to my face (it's already on, because I can leave it on for days), frame, focus, and take a picture in less time than most phones can even turn on. That and, just as important, it never lights up or beeps at all (except for the memory card write LED).

[jamesmiller5]

I think you accurately capture why Google Glass was invented, to help share your life without getting in the way of it.

[sanderjd]

Your parent also accurately captures why Google Glass is a solution to a self-inflicted problem.

[jamesmiller5]

I was going to throw a nod to this in my original post.

Although Google Glass in this case is using technology to solve a personal/social/cultural problem I do think it's one of the few times in recent memory to be an actually good solution.

I believe it gives the individuals such as myself and others who do value the living over the sharing a chance to get the best of both while giving those who value sharing over living a chance to enjoy the moment more.

[jblock]

At the same time, when do we hit our mental limits for absorbing information simultaneously? Yes there's the capacity to unobtrusively "share" and "capture," but you have to extend some mental energy to efficiently and usefully absorb this information.

[sanderjd]

I think there is a really significant editing problem - if you share everything, the unfiltered stream is way too much for yourself or anyone else to meaningfully consume at a later time, but if you are constantly picking and choosing what is and isn't worthy of sharing, then you lose the unobtrusiveness of the solution that your parent praised.

I think I may have said the same thing you said.

[viviantan]

Your comment reminds me of the turning point in WALL-E when all the humans finally looked up from their computer screens to see the world :)

Coincidentally a few days ago I was just writing about how Imagineers pioneered UX design. And speaking of Google Glass, the Haunted Mansion at Disney World was updated last year with augmented reality effects so that the hitch hiking ghosts in the mirrors now interact with the visitors (like swapping their heads) -- http://www.wdwmagic.com/attractions/haunted-mansion/news/05a...

Have you been? How was it?

[BuckNasty]

Very interesting points and I agree with you in spirit.

One thing that's a bit ironic though, is that the examples that you gave are themselves very much corporate, pre-packaged experiences.

Kind of hard to tell where the rabbit hole ends.

[icebraining]

That's just a phase 'till lifecasting becomes commonplace.

[chris123]

To me its sad that "deep moments" have anything to do with Disneyland or any other manmade attraction, especially one designed to please Wall Street analysts and investors with an ever-increasing stream of profits, extracted from over-commercialized families seeking (corporate) entertainment. Maybe people should just plug into the Matrix for their deep moments and delicious steaks. Soon :)

[rjbond3rd]

> I've almost given up on being able to ride Pirates of the Carribbean and being able to experience it the way the Imagineers wanted you to.

I love the way you write, but even more, that you live in Orlando, riding the rides that way. (In Las Vegas, my kids and I used to ride Star Trek: The Experience every day, all day, for the whole 12 hours, for days on end...)