Joseph Nicephore Niepce, on a summer day
in 1827, made the first photographic image using his camera obscura. But today,
I sit here and think if he would be happy to see how his invention is being put
to use.
Using technology isn’t something new for
people; prehistoric caveman has played with fire, which was a new technology
for him way back then. Today, the comparatively new technology that makes
everyone go crazy is taking photos using their smartphones, cameras and then
sharing it over some social networking website.
I was strongly inspired and worried by the
way the cameras and the photos affect our lives, two incidents made me to think
about that, one, the article about a small kid and two, was how my own
classmates were running mad to get them clicked.
Let me start with the first story, a
father assumed that his 3 year old kid enjoyed the superpower it gained in
using the touch screen of his iPhone , but over a period of time it proved to
be wrong. She was having an obsession for photos, she seemed to be too much
perturbed about the way she looked, and she was becoming overly self-conscious.
The kid was asking her parents to take a
picture of her when she did something new, the parents were awed by the way she
reacted, for them she should be more involved in the moment rather than
thinking if the moment is worth being documented.
Though the father doesn’t deny the fact
that, his kid has to develop an awareness of how she looked and her
relationship with others, he is worried about the way she is becoming more
self-conscious, the way she was becoming older at a young age , it simply
didn’t seem to be a constructive effect anymore
Second story is more of a personal
experience, a couple of weeks ago we went on a class trip, I would say that the
way my friends behaved was quite poignant to me, I am almost certain that none
of my friends enjoyed the scenic beauty or wondered how the pine forest around
us was perfectly aligned naturally, instead, my friends were involved and
almost forced me to involve in a weird story, they were trying to convert every
moment of that trip to a photo opportunity.
If you take life to be a book, photos are
just anchors of memory, these photos act as only bookmarks, these photos can’t
write stories on its own, and we can’t have hundreds of photos with no stories
to share. The very umbilical cord that tries to connect us with others,
shouldn’t strangle us right…???
I will surely say that; we are losing our
precious time in getting a perfect shot by fighting with our electronic
devices. In doing this we are making an average experience which else would
have been a great experience.
A birthday party doesn’t seem to get
completed without hundred photos taken, which would surely include a
considerable number of selfies, and pictures of our tilted faces. Reveling in
the party is much more an enriching experience, than trying to enjoy the
moments from behind the screen. We all know that, there are people who don’t
take single photos, but remember and cherish the moments much better later.
There would always be a new social media
tool to distract us, but there could never be a tool to replace our memories, I
accept that we are great with multitasking, but studies show that multitasking
reduces the way we remember things, so we can’t argue that we will create a
great experience at the same time we handle our cameras.
I am not asking you people to agree or
disagree with my point, because that becomes voting, I am just asking you
people to think…So, next time you are with your friends relinquish your
pavlovian search for your smartphone because great moments come from great
opportunities and opportunities are like heart beats, you can’t afford to skip
them.
P.S. When you are out of focus in front of
cameras, you always have another chance but when you lose focus on people
around you, i doubt your second chances...and courtesy to star sports for the
last line(opportunities are like heartbeats, you can't afford to skip them).
