Omg smartphones and Instagram, they are genuinely ruining the fucking world

[Urav]

People are behaving differently because of them, in the real world, and they're expecting other people to also behave differently, in the real world.

I went on a day trip to Capri. Not been there for twenty years, I knew it would be crowded, I don't mind that, it was busy twenty years ago too. But what I didn't expect was people telling me to move out of the way so they could take pictures with no one else in shot, people carving out parts of just regular open space as a place you need to queue for in order to stand in to have a picture alone.

Not just one or two people either. It felt like everyone there had decided that this is what you do, in a nice place. You make queues to take pictures with no one else in them. And then you leave. Like, that's an activity in itself.

It's actually freaked me out a little, how anti-human, anti-everything this mindset is. It feels like the fall of civilization or something.

Yes, I saw a TikTok (appropriate!) of people queuing in Lake Como to have their photo taken at the 'gates of heaven'. Literally hundreds of people queuing for I presume hours, for this photo opp. All because it's apparently become a viral spot.

I honestly can't think of anything I'd queue for hours for. Certainly not a silly old photo. There's without a doubt another picturesque spot literally 5 mins down the road. Go to that one, take your pic and get on with your day!

www.tiktok.com/@sadii255/video/7623763216622947602?q=sadii255&t=1785012378515

YANBU.

Also, gone are the days of going to a concert without millions of phones waving around.

That’s why I enjoy classical music concerts - a little bit of respite!

Also, I work part time in the wedding industry and you wouldn’t believe how much things have changed just because of getting an ‘Instagram-worthy’ day.

Yup, we have just been on holiday and the number of folk just walking along snapping pictures then walking off without ever actually looking at the view/architecture/monument etc was depressing. One woman on a bridge just twirling around videoing then walking away, another just filming a walkthrough in a museum #tripofalifetime 🙄

Needless to say, we took time to stop and actually look at the places, experience the food, attempt the language a little bit.

Absolutely, it's a complete fucking waste of your life to queue merely for the purpose of standing on any particular spot on earth. But the problem is once a queue starts, you're the asshole if you ignore it. And what I found on Capri, which is a place that's tight on space and crowded anyway, there were so many impromptu queues that I couldn't just wander around, or sit down, or really do any fucking thing without some phone devil telling me I was in the way. In the way of what? Of the virtual world that these morons have given power and supremacy to, to the point that they think any actual person in a given location is an obstruction on their lens.

Dumb as

it seems especially crazy considering phone cameras have an editing function here you can remove unwanted objects from a background nowadays.

As the Spanish FA did when they edited Trump out of the World Cup photos.

I was in St James Cathedral in Santiago de Compostela last year. It’s the reputed burial place of St James the Great, one of the 12 Apostles. There were specific clear instructions given in several languages that there were to be no photos taken at his tomb. Staff had to physically intervene to stop people doing exactly that.

Agree, I have been in so many galleries where people march up place themselves dead centre in front of a piece of art take a photo and then walk off to the next one without even looking at it. I just don't get why people need to take a photo of a piece of art you can literally get a far better image of the art online.

Totally agree, videos at concerts is the worst. If you want to see it on screen just stay home and watch it in dvd.
my adult DDs have started taking proper cameras out with them and it’s lovely to see them uploading and printing photos rather than click and into ig

We were at a gallery a few weeks ago and a woman dressed as (I assume, because I have actually no idea) a living doll with baby clothes on, was getting her (again, I assume) son to take photos of her doing cutesy poses against the antique silver. Son was under 10 I reckon.

What a way to spend a Saturday.

Where have you been for the last 10
years?!

I really hope there is a backlash that hits hard.

I used to be a really keen photographer many years ago, it was a great hobby. This was back in the 90s. In the early days of the internet there was a great community of photographers, some amazingly talented people sharing their images. But as phone cameras improved there was just a tsunami of images, until it felt like all anyone did was take endless photos of everything. So many people copying each others images. I really fell out of love with it, and even if I take my camera with me I often can’t bring myself to take photos anymore - it’s just too much now.

The whole thing feels devalued. I miss it as a creative outlet, but I just try to enjoy the moment now. It will be a cold day in hell before I ever line up to take an identical photo to thousands of other people just so I have some evidence that I was there.

YANBU. I sometimes take pictures if I really want to / if it's special and I wait for people to move but no way would I ask or expect them to! How sad to go on holiday to queue.

I was at St Michael's Mount in Cornwall recently. If anyone's unfamiliar, it's essentially a castle on a on a huge, steep, rock hill on an island. You definitely have to watch where you put your feet on the steps going up and down to get to and from the castle. A member of staff at the top was warning visitors about to descend not just to be careful but not to try filming / live streaming themselves or facetiming as they went back down. Apparently a few visitors have done so and have fallen! Why on earth you'd risk yourself on steep, unforgiving stone eludes me!

I made the mistake of visiting Santorini a few years ago. The posing and preening from masses of people, with semi professional equipment absolutely blew my mind and depressed me at the same time.

But if you're not taking pictures yourself, you don t gave to queue? As for people telling you to move, ignore them

I drove through Burford in the week and saw a woman taking a selfie in front of a Land Rover on the high street. Tbh if I’d seen that 20 years ago I might have thought she had mental health problems, she was bending herself into weird angles to get the pictures she wanted. Such a strange way to live.

There is beginning to be a backlash. We went to a newly opened club and music venue in London earlier this year and everyone had to have stickers put over their phone cameras to block them and there were signs saying no photos everywhere

To be fair a lot of people make an incredible living from this. I work 60 hour weeks to save up for a 2 week holiday in a beautiful location once every 3 years. Then you have 20 somethings getting paid to fly all over the world while taking pictures and mentioning a brand. I wouldn't say they are the stupid ones!

I was on holidays in Japan recently. I was struck by how vain everyone has become and how getting "the perfect selfie/video" for social media seemed to be the focus of any outing. People touching up their hair and makeup, primping and preening in public. Setting up cameras on stands in the middle of a restaurant, taking videos.

I was quite appalled.

YANBU - so much better to experience life with your EYES not through a screen. And queuing to take a photo that already exists x100000!

As pp says I really hope there is a backlash and people realise how much they have been missing. And also how boring these selfies are for everyone else.

Yup - was in Rome a couple of years ago and there were lots of young women dressed up to the nines (eg satin evening gown at 10am), trying to walk on Rome’s cobblestones in heels. Usually with a bored looking boyfriend in tow carrying various camera accessories - did not look like any of them were having fun!

I really wish I could have ignored them. But it was like there was some consensus I hadn't agreed to. The majority were fully on board with all the queuing and photos and acting like I was the one in the wrong. Like I say space is tight there, so there were lots of places where I couldn't just walk around, because there were queues and I was perceived as being in the way for walking. It really fucked with my head to be honest with you.

Absolutely!

What makes me cringe is filming children opening presents or blowing out candles or whatever, rather than experiencing those moments with them properly.

It's absolutely ridiculous. I live in Edinburgh and one of my favourite hobbies at this time of year is seeing how many photo opportunities I can insert myself into as I go about my business in town. Years ago I used to be polite and stop for folk but now I just barge on through!