Recently, It has occurred to me that social media sites have become inundated with pictures and videos captured by the stereotypical ‘Globe Trekker’. Albums of photos on Facebook showing their 5 week trek through the Amazon Rain forest, or a heavily edited vlog previewing their month spent living on a house boat in South East Asia on Youtube, which of course are both highly desirable. To me, this begs the question, are people still living in the present? Or are they beginning to worry so much about capturing a photo from the right angle, or getting that panorama just perfect to truly live for the moment and immerse themselves in the present?
With the introduction of YouTube and the numerous ‘YouTubers’ setting off around the world in order to capture their experiences, and post them all over the internet to share with the rest of the world, it would seem like a dream job, but with millions of viewers and a demand for an increasing amount of videos to be uploaded to your channel on time, it is easy to see how a person could become jaded, and lose the sense of freedom and adventure that often comes hand in hand with travel. Picture yourself 8,000 miles away, pushing your way through a busy Indian Bazaar in the 35 degree heat, whilst carrying all the expensive equipment you need to shoot, capture and film your time there. Not ideal? I don’t think so.
Another astonishing issue is the lengths in which people go in order to share there experiences with the world. Especially with the ‘picture or it never happened’ attitude. People are going to extremes, exceeding the amount of money spent on their drones, cameras and GoPros than they actually spent on the trip itself. It’s sad that people have lost the sense of living within the moment and keeping their memories personal with the people they experienced them with. Of course you want to show your friends back a home how much fun you had following the Inca trail in Peru, but bombarding your social media sites with 30 images of exactly the same famous monument could become tiresome, and your friends may not appreciate it whilst scrolling through their Facebook on their 7am commute to work. In the past, having the opportunity to be able to travel to other parts of the world and experience a variety of different cultures was enough to give you the excitement of understanding and feeling like you were thousands of miles away from home. Nowadays, due to the development of the internet, you are never further than a ‘tweet’ or a ‘text’ away from home, leaving a less uninspiring view on travel. Once you’ve seen your friends posts of them backpacking through the Middle East on a camel, why would you feel the need to go and do it? You’ve already experienced it all through them.
Of course, it’s only natural that you want to have a few momentos to look back on and remember the amazing places you’ve seen and visited, but what if the only memories you had were the ones where you were trying to capture the moment? Instead of being in the present and enjoying the moment while it lasted? Wouldn’t that be a bigger regret? You could surprise yourself with how much your own brain can remember, so next time you’re travelling maybe it’s time to put down the camera and make memories instead of capturing what could have been an even better one.
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