No one enjoys the moment anymore

[BubblesBlossomAndButtercup]

I went to London to watch the NYE fireworks. I took a few pictures during the display but there was no way I was filming the countdown. I wanted to enjoy it.
I can’t speak for everyone who went of course, but certainly in my section, everyone was filming it. When the moment came, DP and I hugged and kissed - and no one else around us did.

We had a good view ruined a lot by people holding up their phones. Fine for a second, but for the whole thing!!!

Has the world gone mad? :(

Yeah this next generation are something else. No atmosphere at concerts coz they are all just filming! Like just enjoy the friggin night ffs

What is the point of filming the new year countdown - it is the moment in time that it is happening that makes it special, watched at any other time it is meaningless.

I say this all the time, it's depressing they might aswell not be there and watch it on someone's video later. I barely take videos or pics as I just like to enjoy the moments. This generation are fucked

A lot of people have grown up with these devices. It's normal now. I agree they can diminish enjoyment of things and take people out of the moment but it's also a different way of engaging with things.

My EX was like this, always had to film everything, it used to do my head in. I can honestly say all the firework events we went to he never watched them again after he had recorded them, never saw the point in it myself, live in the moment

Yes this, I never get why people think they will watch it again. Or even worse why they think anyone wants to watch it if they post it on social media. We went to a gig a while back and one woman kept trying to live stream. Even in the best of circumstances very few people want to watch an entire live gig that's been recorded, but when it's your mate holding their phone up in the air and hoping it's pointing the whole way? Christ.

I don't film anything or take many pics. I can understand people filming a few seconds of an iconic intro or chorus I guess, or taking a pic of the stage etc but after that put your bloody phone away!

I used to do that and stopped because I realised I was just watching through a tiny screen and the videos "never did it justice".

I now prefer to experience things for what they are. Sure, I do take photos and videos, but not nearly as often.

I kind of agree and kind of don't. This Christmas I lived in the moment and didn't take many pictures, or film my DS opening anything. I find that my memory is pants and I really rely on photos and videos to help remember stuff. Looking back through my phone I'm now a bit sad that I don't have more photos and videos to remember the day by, compared to last year where I recorded most of it (and still enjoy looking at those pics and vids!).

So yes I enjoyed the moment, but know that this Christmas is probably going to fade into black fairly soon as I don't have many pics to look at. I'd have been able to enjoy it for longer had we videoed some of it.

Yes the world has gone mad, everywhere you look people are glued to their little hand held pocket computers instead of looking each other in the eye. No good will come of it, I'll tell you!

Have just made this point on another thread. I prefer to enjoy the event as it happens and use my own memory to enjoy thinking back on it in the future. It's like people are outsourcing their memories...and it's not just younger people.

I went to Christmas at Kew. It was full of people filming the installations and taking selfies. Very few just walking through and enjoying the moment and the experience. It's sad. Photos will never capture the moment of just being there.

When photos are the only thing you have left with the ones you love in then you'll realise how important they are.. I record and take photos all the time.. not just for social media but for memories. Me and my kids often look on my phone at old events we've been to and talk about them. It's great looking back at them and talking about them.

FFS - so what.

You enjoy the moment- don’t waste time or energy or ‘being sad’ for others because they are enjoying it in their own way,

I agree with this. I wish I'd taken more videos of my DC as babies/family events etc - watch them all the time

YANBU - 'generation phone' (whoever they may be) don't live in the moment. They live for some future moment which will probably never arrive. The enjoyment is in 'sharing' content but in reality it rests heavily on the affirmation they receive. And if that's not a recipe for neurotic behaviour, I don't know what is.

It's a weird mindset: if you don't record it, it never happened.

@reabies

im the same, I need the photos/video because my memory is SO awful. It's why I keep too much 'stuff' as well.

However, like you I didn't this year because the sunlight was in the way of getting good pictures or video. I'll have lost most of this Christmas now, but it was a nice day so I'm holding onto that.

i still take loads of photos when I'm out, BUT I don't video concerts or countdowns anymore, as I do feel I lose the moment & there's so much online now. Better footage than I'd have got of the London countdown if I'd been there and without annoying those around me!

I get taking a couple of photos but not filming a whole concert. Does anyone ever sit and watch the videos again? I do like photos with family/friends, it’s nice to be able to look at them later. I grew up in the 80s and 90s and don’t have any photos of birthdays or Christmas, which is a bit of a shame.

Sometimes you look at reviews for tourist attractions and they say great for photos or something like that. Is that really something that people think about when deciding to go somewhere?

As if anyone wants to watch their tiny mobile videos anyway.

I live in a tourist hotspot, it's very noticeable here. There's amazing scenery but many people just get out of their car, snap a selfie and take off to the next spot. It's like a tick box exercise. They don't take anything in.

We were in a lovely spot on the coast the other day. Fab views over the sea to the islands beyond, waterfalls, wildlife etc. There was a youngish couple there for about half an hour. All they did was set up selfie after selfie. It's sad to see.

@CranfordScones

I'm 55, and suffering with my memory (have for a long while now) & I forget 'big stuff' like holidays, events etc. so yes if I don't take any photos/videos it's like it never happened.

its a really horrible thing.

I’m not really one to record everything, bit a few years back we went to Paris for new year and I did record the fireworks and do actually treasure that video and still have vivid memories of the actual event.

Hate it. Never video my kid, either. I remember everything.

Someone equally could have looked at you taking “a few photos” and judged that they took none and you weren’t in the moment either. I don’t particularly find that taking photos or videos at an event takes me out of the moment either. I went to a Carol concert this Christmas, and I recorded a short section (which was permitted). All I needed to do was point my phone in the right direction. I’ve watched the clip many times since and I’m glad I took it.

Conversely, I have no photos of our Boxing Day family gathering this year and I wish that I had taken the time to record memories of the day. I love looking at photographs of events I’ve enjoyed and people I’ve spent time with. It’s not for social media, as I’m sure many people on this thread will confidently assert. You might not value that, but I really do. The photographs I take bring me joy, remind me of things which I otherwise may have forgotten, and capturing that doesn’t take me out of a moment.

We recently found some old videos of me as a child well over 30 years old and my children loved seeing me as child and family members we have sadly lost had my parents not recorded this even back in the 80s I wouldn't have been able to share these moments with my children... I'm very sentimental about photos/videos/scrap books I take them for me personally not just for social media its great to see what we was doing and reminisce about the event.. maybe it's me getting a sentimental old fool in my age 🤣🤣