To Feel Angered by People Taking So Many Photos for the 'Gram...?

[LilacCatt]

I am feeling so nostalgic right now for life pre-social media and pre-smart phones.

I am mid 30s. When I was 17 I had MySpace. When I was 19 I had Facebook. I deleted social media when I was 21 and have been without ever since. I use WhatsApp and occasionally have a peruse of Mumsnet.

Anyway.

Lately (for the past few years), I feel like whenever I visit a remotely interesting place (days out are my favourite thing to do) I am just so distracted from my own enjoyment by people around me posing for photos. Sometimes I see people doing really cringey things such as taking a few steps forward whilst getting their photo taken as if "candid", then quickly checking the result, and then going back to their original spot to take the same few steps forward whilst posing again.

Oh my god. This is all with people around them who are trying to enjoy the moment of the place of interest.

I feel it really repulses me, and actually angers me.

But I can't articulate WHY that is.

I don't want to be a bitter or angry person.

So I just want to explore this emotion a bit more, and open up the floor for a debate here.

Am I being unreasonable to have the inner emotional reaction when I see this sort of thing going on around me?

Should I live and let live?

Is it a symbol of everything wrong in society???

Questioning myself and my thoughts.

Thanks.

You are being sanctimonious. FWIW I grew up entirely pre social media and we still took plenty of photos.

This!

You do you and let others do what they want

Completely agree with you OP!! People don't understand how social media effects young people.

Oh come on we took about 50 to 100 a year on an exciting year. My kids can take that on a day.

My parents always took Tonnes of photos whenever we went anywhere remotely interesting when I was a kid in the 90s/00s.
Of each other, of us, of the scenery, of particularly nice dinners and whatever else they thought was snap worthy.

People like preserving nice memories and yabu to get on your high horse about it just because you assume they’re going to post it to social media afterwards

I agree, op. It's wank. People aren't being authentic and living in the moment. They're looking ahead to what other people will see when they look at the photos. I don't get it at all.

Oh come on we took about 50 to 100 a year on an exciting year. My kids can take that on a day.

😆

The bits that bother me are when people film an entire concert. Why get arm ache & watch through a screen when you can be in the moment & stream the concert later with proper picture & sound! I don’t like when people film others & put it out there without permission.

@Moonshiners

nope. Maybe you did. But I took loads!!

I think the difference is mine were of other people or the scenery etc not hundreds of me posing.

@LilacCatt I think you're over reacting. I don't 'do' selfies, or social media, but just let them be, they're not hurting you

I think because it just looks so false. It becomes cloying with time.

Went to Wimbledon and had to sit awkwardly watching a girl getting herself photographed at every angle right in front of me. It was cringe, and totally unnecessary. A couple of photos? Understandable but nearly 5 mins of getting every single pose? No.

It's because they are oblivious to the people around them. It's so look-at-me. I was on a tour yesterday, and the guide kept giving us items to pass around the group to look at. Most people managed the passing task, but several times an Instagram woman seized the item, took about 15 photos of herself with it, and then completely forgot there were another 10 people waiting to look at it, and tossed it casually into the guide's basket. They also hogged the view whenever there was one. I think the rest of us were genuinely invisible to them. In a way, it was funny, but it's also ridiculous. They were women in their 30s, it would be annoying to have to spend a lot of time with them. Even their friends seemed like props. They only hugged and laughed for the camera.

It's how fucking vapid everyone seems. They basically go to all these beautiful historical places and don't even try and appreciate it because they're too busy posing like nobs for endless photos 🙄 and breathe🤣

I think there is something more here.

And maybe it's sanctimonious, I dunno.

I like photos. I take a few snaps to look back on. As memories. This is totally fine. Memories from places I have particularly enjoyed being.

But.

Some of these people at these places... I feel they are there BECAUSE it will look good on photos. So then the true meaning and importance of the visited place is sort of lost??

I don't know. It outrages me! Why am I so outraged.

Do you think this will ever change- not the taking of photos, but the mass visits to these places PURELY TO take said photos, rather than to enjoy the actual place?

I think that's more what I'm getting at.

But yeah, omg, don't even get me started on the concert thing.

I saw someone sneakily take a photo of someone on the bus and post it on their Instagram. Shocked.

This is so tragic 😬 the bit about friends being props.

See, I can see why you would be annoyed by this. These people are part of the group you were in. Grr.

But. Say if I am visiting somewhere, and there's people like this around.... I was never particularly intending on interacting with them in the first place. So why does it annoy me that they are being so oblivious/ignorant? It really annoys me. Am I wrong?

You're not wrong. It's as though everyone thinks they're a celebrity and must be seen to be doing stuff by strangers online rather than living in the moment. I don't think they know how to live in the moment. It's grating and exhausting and I think perhaps somehow it's either the pinnacle of vanity and narcissism or it's the glaring insecurity of people, or maybe something that encompasses both ends if the spectrum like a monstrous desperation for affirmation.

There is such a thing as Instagram tourism definitely. Its not so much taking photos as the types people take. I remember a woman asking me to take her photo in Mexico. She ended u wanting me to take loads of shots of her walking off pretending not to see the camera and then staring off into the distance. Then she'd come back, check and tell me how she wanted it done differently. Like they're a model?

You are not BU OP. It is totally irritating. It feels fake - like people don't really care where they are. They just want other people to see how cool they are that they're in this location or whatever they're doing.

Also it's annoying when you're genuinely trying to enjoy something and people around you are more concerned with getting the right photo...People don't take silly photos anymore or like when they look anything less than perfect.

Look at me being so arty observing normal people around me..

God.

I mean, there have been plenty of great photographers catching say to say life like that. But to post it on Instagram like that? Eurgh.

Yes it's distracting from genuine enjoyment and appreciation of the specialness of a place.

It changes the feel of a place.

This is what it is, for me.

I don’t mind it. I like having lots of photos, my memory’s not the best after having children and essentially not sleeping for five years so I enjoy looking back at my pictures. I take loads and don’t even have social media. I think you’re assuming a lot about people and it’s taking up a lot of headspace it doesn’t need to, imo

Instagram tourism, yeah exactly. So these people would never be there if it wasn't for harvesting Instagram likes

Therefore it's like they don't really actually belong there. Like they just shouldn't even being there taking up space..

Wow that's really unfiltered and not PC of me to say. However through this discussion I am figuring out what specifically it is that unsettles me.

Okay but then you don't qualify as an "Instagram Tourist" maybe.

I dunno. Tbh as well, my home town has just become full of these types.

It never used to be like this. It used to be a bit of a shthole with the odd gem, to be honest. But it was MY shthole. My home.

Now it's all be done up and all these Instagram Tourists are queuing to take photos everywhere and I'm just like... It just upsets me. I feel like my hometown belongs more to tourists now. It makes me sad.

It sounds like you’re spending more time noseying at what people around you are doing than appreciating these special places for what they are so I don’t think you can judge too harshly