If You Want to Remember Something, Do Not Take Pictures
Last month, I attended Outside Lands, a three-day music festival in San Francisco where musicians from almost every genre performed on many different stages around Golden Gate Park. No matter what music was playing, each scene had one thing in common: someone (or a lot of people) stood next to the stage with their phones up to take pictures and video, obstructing the view of everyone behind them. As a short person, I have watched the vast majority of shows over the weekend, watching them through someone’s phone screen. It turns out that besides the fact that it is unpleasant, there is not much point in filming everything.
Most people take all these photos at a concert or in a museum because they want to be able to remember the event later. The idea makes sense, but as it turns out, taking all of these photos can damage your ability to remember the event later, rather than help it.
Admittedly, filming concerts has been my favorite headache for years. I totally understand that I want to photograph how close you are to the stage to show to your Facebook friends, or to film the chorus of your favorite song. However, when you do this the whole concert, I have a problem with you. What are you honestly going to do with 1,000 mediocre photos of this group taken with your mobile phone? The answer is nothing. You are no longer going to watch this concert on your phone later. You are not going to create a scrapbook or even a Facebook gallery out of all these images. And let’s be honest, even if you didn’t want any of your friends to look at all these pictures. You needed one photo. All others were taken to piss off the people (read: me) behind you.
Linda Henkel, professor of psychology at Fairfield University in Connecticut, has studied how photographing affects our memory. Her research, in particular, looked at how many people were able to recall from visiting the museum, depending on whether they photographed while there. Manush Zomorodi wrote about Henkel’s research in her new book Bored and Glittering: How Space Can Reveal Your Most Productive and Creative Self, which was recently quoted on the TED website .
Apparently, people who photographed every exhibition they saw remembered less than those who didn’t take a single photo while walking around it. Those who did not photograph even remembered more details about individual objects than those who photographed them.
“When you photograph something, you expect the camera to remember it,” Henkel says. “You basically say, ‘Okay, I don’t have to think about this anymore. The camera captured this impression. ” You are not involved in any complex or emotional process that would really help you remember the experience because you passed it on to your camera. ”
Basically, you are using the camera, not your brain.
Instead of photographing absolutely everything, it is better to shoot without a camera in hand. Sure, take a photo or two to share with your friends on social media or show your mom later, but then put the camera away.
Zomorodi also suggests a “photo detox” session where you try to walk 24 hours without photographing. If you’re feeling really ambitious, consider not even liking photos of other places like Facebook and Instagram for 24 hours.
At a minimum, these experiences can change your perception of the world around you and help you see what you might be missing by constantly observing the world from behind your camera lens.