Are we missing it all?

Have our phones stopped us from experiencing life

All week, in images on TV and in newspapers, we have seen swarms of people. And most of them holding up phones. An image to take home as proof they were there. But were they truly present? Did they really experience it?

Earlier this week my husband and I joined the crowds lining the streets of West London, as Queen Elizabeth II returned to Northolt airbase. We live one tube stop away and it was unlikely we were going to queue for 20 hours along the river Thames, so it was our opportunity to experience history. Because that’s what we are living in. Time and time again over the past few years we are living and breathing history. Moments in time that will be talked about for hundreds of years to come.

For this reason I wanted to be fully present experiencing the moment with every sense. The smell of the ground as the grass grew damp underfoot. Trampled by hundreds of Londoners vying for a spot as the the rain came down. The sound as the crowds grew quiet and a solemn hush descended on the crowd. I also wanted to see everything, not through a phone. Not some day in the future when I would stumble upon those pictures as I deleted memories in a bid to free up precious memory space. But here, now, in this moment. The experience in it’s entirety recorded in my memory.

Around us people held phones aloft rehearsing the perfect angle, so when the moment arrived it would be recorded for posterity, the perfect shot. Experiencing the moment, when it finally arrived, through a screen. The whole moment expertly captured but was it really experienced?

Technology has gifted us the portability of a quality camera in our pocket. But is it being overused? A barrier in between us and our experience of the world. The question is always just because we can, should we? Don’t get me wrong it has enabled us to capture those candid moments of joy. But how many hundreds and thousands of photos do we take that never see the light of day. I guess what I’m trying to say is have we exchanged the benefit of capturing those moments for missing experiencing some of those big ones in real life?

It made me sad as those phones rose above the crowds in earnest. Not just because of the very solemn occasion to which we were all gathered, but sad for our loss of experiencing moments rather than capturing them on camera. It’s important to capture those very precious moments to look back on. But don’t forget to look up once and a while and appreciate what’s unfolding before your very eyes.

• This week I’m reading A Manifesto on Never Giving Up by Bernardine Evraiso best selling author of Girl Woman Other

• I’m enjoying Daisy Buchanan’s guest post on Emma Gannon’s newletter The Hyphen on The Joy of Ditching a Book That Bores You. We’ve all been there. Reading a book that’s loved by others but you just can’t seem to enjoy it. I have a copy of The Power that was unable to bring myself to get past the first few chapters if anyone would like it.

• Embracing the joy of dreaming small with this piece in The Atlantic What We Gain From a Good Enough Life