Guest Author
Home videos validate that I was fiercely camera shy. When my mother would come with the shoebox-sized camcorder on her shoulder, I’d duck away while my sister posed.
I felt that cameras ruined the moment by forcing people to become self-conscious, in the way that means having to think about how you’re being. To me back then, cameras made things feel unnatural, contrived.
I was shy enough to feel self-conscious regardless, and the addition of a camera meant the fear of having to be reminded of those awkward moments…forever.
Now, with smart phones holstered in everyone’s pocket, I’m glad I grew up when I did.
A study released last week made me feel vindicated for the feelings my 10-year-old self harbored. The study found that the act of looking through a camera to take photos actually reduces one’s memory of an event or object.
Apparently, the brain processes information differently when looking straight on rather than through a lens. What a conundrum: we take photos to never forget a moment, but in doing so, lose much of the moment too.
Fast forward. I’m a compulsive picture-taker of my own kids.
Slowly, armed with the ability to take photos any time, the feeling of not wanting to “miss a thing” turned into a fear that special moments would go undocumented. The pressure surrounding that feeling grew. I programmed shortcuts to the camera app on my phone.
Then, three weeks ago, my smart phone fell in a toilet while I was lifting my 2-year-old. After the old bag-of-rice routine, most features of the phone were operational. Not the camera. It’s wrecked.
At first I was sure I’d replace the phone — after all, what good would it be without the camera!? But then I did the math. I had about four months until I was eligible for the device upgrade rate. For the amount I’d spend on a phone at full cost, I could buy a wicked sweet Canon. But who wants to carry both around?
So I’ve taken the bold, scary move of being camera-free until March.
It took less than a day for new feelings to take over: relief and quietude.
Then, on Wednesday morning, I read Steve Kurlander’s column on President Obama’s refreshingly real selfie moment. Kurlander wrote, “Then, there’s this bothersome narcissistic compulsion that has obsessed our children’s generation to continuously take pictures of them.”
Cringe! Narcissism is not the lesson I want my kids to take away from my adoration of their toddler faces.
I’ll welcome a new phone in March, but with a different frame of mind.
P.S. Have you added “selfie” to your Word dictionary? How many years until the term is Scrabble-legal?
