Put Down the Camera. Say 1000 Words Yourself.

I know you've been there. Scrolling through your Facebook timeline, when you see that Sally Smith has just added 180 photos to the album "Summer 2013." Beginning to swipe through the pictures, you realize that the pictures are incredibly repetitive and quite possibly all from the same day. It's like she couldn't put her phone/camera down for five minutes.

Similarly, if you were to go to a concert this weekend and pay attention to the audience, hundreds of people will have their phones up in the air recording their favorite song, taking video, Snapchats, pictures, and most importantly--their time.

Have you ever stopped to wonder what life would be like if we went back to the 24-pictures-per-roll mentality? Where we only take a picture when we feel like it's a meaningful memory? Before the word "selfie" was ever added to the English language?

Now, don't get me wrong. I am in full support of photography, and I love seeing the beautiful things people are able to capture. However, I think we've reached a point where it's gotten completely out of hand. Pictures are no longer taken to preserve moments in time. Instead, the idea of capturing memories has been perverted into visual status-updates. Social media has become visual, which isn't intrinsically bad, but it's being abused. "Look at me." "Look what I'm doing right now." "Look at who I'm with." . . .you get the point. I think what was originally meant to be a memory aid has been transformed into an online show-and-tell, but we've completely forgotten about the "tell."

I remember taking vacations with my family many years ago. On the first day of every vacation we went on, each of us four kids would be awarded a Fugifilm disposable camera. We had 24 shots--no more, no less. We cherished those opportunities, and tried to take the best, most memorable pictures we could. Granted, my younger brother didn't quite get the concept. He took a picture, flash on, of a random Mexican man walking out of the gift shop (true story). The rest of us, though, understood and valued the limited chances we had.

To be honest with you, my best memories of those vacations were never caught on camera. And, *surprise*, it wasn't because of the 24-picture rule. Sure, looking back on those pictures we took is fun, and will occasionally remind me of something funny, but the mental memories are what count in the long run. The stories and laughs will be there long after the pictures are buried in some folder on Facebook. So why aren't we focusing more on who or what we are with instead of all of our friends who aren't with us?

Soak up the beauty of the moment, and store it in your brain--the best database of all-time.
I have a challenge for you: next time you venture to any place where you would normally blow up Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat (or all three) with pictures of what you're doing, stop. Take a very limited number of pictures, and tell me what it feels like afterwards. It's very hard for me to describe what it feels like for me personally, but if I had to choose one word, it would be privatized. The memory is mine and mine only. If you want to share the memory, say 1000 words about it instead of showing a picture. Trust me, you won't feel empty just because you don't have 930 pictures to show-off to your friends. You'll even have the liberty to flash a little selfish grin when you say, "Oh man, you had to be there!"

Keep your life an adventure!
-Joel