Too Many Pics on My Phone (But Why Should I Care?)

How many photos do you have on your phone camera roll right now?

I know. I have hundreds too!

Taking photos is a unique part of modern life. Smartphones allow us to carry high-quality cameras everywhere we go. Taking photos can be fun, and memories are precious and fleeting – we want to remember and catalogue every moment (and today we can, so what’s the harm?) 

Social media is a huge part of our lives, too, and a lot of us take photos to post, a “do it for the ‘Gram” mentality.

Over time, frequent photo-taking day can become a habit, and habits are good to examine once in a while. 

Here are three reasons to consider being more intentional with your photo-taking:

1. Taking photos reduces our ability to be present. Instead of focusing on the moment and the people around us, observing our lives through a screen distances us from our surroundings and reduces our attention, which is ultimately damaging to ourselves and our relationships.

2. Taking photos actually diminishes our ability to remember the event. Our brains do less processing when we rely on our phones to store our memories for us, resulting in an impaired ability to keep those memories long term.

3. Taking photos is tied to sharing photos, and the act of sharing actually exports us from the moment we’re trying to delight in. Sharing ends up treating the event (or sight) as an object instead of an experience. And the more we snap and share, the more the “objects” lose power or meaning. 

In “8 Reasons Psychologists Warn Not to Take So Many Photos,” Jess Bulluyt says “people feel overwhelmed by the number of photos they see and are addicted to posting their own photos for others to view. We see so many photos that it’s hard for us to remember any one, specific photo.” Can she get an amen?

Other researchers study the effects on children of continually being photographed, finding that it increases their sense of self-awareness in often unhealthy ways. Kids are quick learners, and the more often they find a camera pointed in their direction, the faster they learn to live for the benefit of the photo rather than just being present.

Bottom line:

Some moments are so important that we want to be able to re-visit them forever, and photos allow us to capture memories in a uniquely beautiful way. 

But: presence and attention are ultimately more fruitful for our souls and relationships than photos. And these things are best cultivated without the interference of our phones. 

So let’s examine our practices, be intentional, and make a point of using balance in oour photo-taking!

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