Shared Videos

As I was scrolling through my Facebook feed earlier, I came across a video. You know the kind, the sweet, emotional tear-jerkers that someone originally posts, and then others share them over and over and over, possibly going "viral."

There have been many debates, especially regarding adults of my generation, about 'living in the moment.' As in Put your phone down, dummy, and enjoy this moment before it passes. A few months back, there was an article about people at a parade. Every single person (really, every one of them) was holding their phone up to take a photo or video as the parade came down the road. Everyone except for this one little old lady, who was smiling and actually watching the parade. I can say I'm guilty of this occasionally, though not nearly as much as some.

Thanks to our readily available smart phones, we've turned into a culture that wants to document EVERYTHING. And in some ways, this is arguably a good thing. Children born these days will have way more photos of their growth and development as they get older than any generation before. I take photos of my dog all the time. Do I need to take that many? No, but it makes me happy to look at them sometimes when I'm down.

On one hand, this doesn't seem all that far off from days gone by when a designated family member held the camera, looked through the lens, and took our pictures. I don't think I would have said they "weren't living in the moment" by being the family photographer for the day. But somehow it does seem a bit more extreme now, doesn't it? Way more narcissistic, when you add in the element of posting it online. I know some people who seemingly can't have a family get-together without taking multiple candid and posed photos. It's not like they're crazy people, they're just obsessed with holding onto those moments, capturing them for all time. Funny though, I think it's safe to say that never before have we taken so many photos, but had so few physical photos to show for it. For all these photos we've taken, we sure don't print out many of them. (Hey, remember the days of photo albums? That you actually flipped through, like, with your hands, haha?)

I certainly understand wanting to preserve memories. I'm nostalgic for the past, love looking at old black and white photos, and am a bit of a pack-rat when it comes to being sentimental about things. But I also believe that some moments should simply be enjoyed between the people in the room. There is something beautiful about that. Not everything needs to be documented, and beyond that not everything needs to be shared for everyone to see.

I should make a point here to say that I find a big difference between 'sharing things with only your friends' and 'sharing things publicly online.' I still don't feel everything needs to be posted, but I really don't understand the people who share things for the entire world to see—literally.

So as I was scrolling through my Facebook, there was a video of an old lady. She had just been given a very special gift. Her husband had passed away, and she was given a pillow that was made of an old shirt of his, so she can always "have his shoulder to lean on" or something along those lines.

Grandma was crying, obviously. It was a sweet moment, but this is just one of probably hundreds of videos now that I almost wish I didn't see. It feels awkward. I don't know these people, yet I'm somehow peering into this very special, very intimate moment in their lives. I almost feel bad for the grandma, that one of her family members is shoving a cell phone in her space like a television reporter so they can record every second of her reaction.

There was just something about it, the invasion of privacy, that led me to write all this. I think we could all use a moment to re-examine how we view our world via our phones. Take pictures, sure, but keep them to yourself and your loved ones. You don't have to invite the world into your living room.