I went to the Zoo recently and I couldn’t believe how many people immediately whip out their phones to film the animals in the exhibit.

Like, if looking at images of animals on your phone was anywhere near as enjoyable as seeing them in person, why even pay to come to the fucking zoo!?

The animal you are looking at is already existing within a dead facsimile of its actual environment! It’s already like looking at an image!

Do people really go back and look at these images and videos and feel the same feeling as when they’re looking a marmoset of exotic bird right in the eyes a few feet away from them?

It feels like we’ve all become trained to whip out our phones and start filming the moment anything interesting starts happening. The way everyone prefers this mediated experience to just being in reality experiencing art or living things or a concert or whatever just makes me feel kind of bleak. To me this is a great example of what is meant when we talk about Alienation.

Anyone else agree or am I being a grumpy geriatric shaking my fist at the kids on my lawn?

  • ZoomeristLeninist [they/them, she/her]@hexbear.netM
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    20
    ·
    5 months ago

    nah, im in my mid-20s and have always felt the same way. all the boomers and gen x i know are obsessed with capturing every moment on film. me and my gf both never take pictures and my mom and her mom both always ask for pics when we do something and we usually have almost nothing. we went on a week long vacation halfway across the country and when we sent the pics to them there were like 15 and some of them where the same pic at different angles.

    i think it just takes you out of the moment. if i want to remember it ill just use my head. if i forget, it wasn’t important anyways. ill take pictures very sparingly bc they are nice to look back on but having too many would discourage me from looking at them and obscure the truly important moments. even in important moments ill take just a few pics bc i want to stay in the moment