[gimme1ibertee]

Good read. Spot-on as well.

[Mr Ramsbotham]

This is why we have memories. But perhaps today’s youth are so drug-addled in the brain that they can no longer have them.

[livius]

I agree with this! I was at a religious site in Spain recently where there is a well known figure of the Virgin, located above the altar at an important church. People wait on line for quite some time to go up there, say a prayer, and kiss the figure. But this time, I’d say that about 30% of the people who went up the stairs got to the top, turned around, and took their pictures or had a companion take their pictures, and then walked right on by the Virgin without a glance.

I don’t want to sound like a crabapple! I realize that within limits cell phone photos are fun and appropriate. I take photos of things I think my friends or family would like to see at the moment and send them by SMS. I enjoy getting their photos. But a quick photo of something interesting, shared immediately, is a lot different from the endless photographing or recording of every instant of one’s life, to the point that the actual event is missed or ignored.

[Organic Panic]

I have a complaint. It’s hard to chat up women nowadays. It use to be you could sit by a woman at a park or some other place and start chatting. Now, the phone is glued to their heads and they’re mumbling on and on about this and that.

Time marches on.

[greatvikingone]

I think some people, no matter where they are at, are hoping to catch the moment something goes terribly wrong...

[.45 Long Colt]

Totally agree.

And it’s not just young people. I took my wife to see Michael Bublé for our anniversary. I was surprised to see so many senior adults filming the concert with their phones.

On another note, I distinctly remember walking from grandfather’s hardware store to buy “Frampton Comes Alive” and “Fly Like an Eagle” (Steve Miller Band) from the Ben Franklin five and dime.

[dmz]

For me, I’d prefer to live the moment instead of making a video, but the author just takes it too far. He got a few of the current buzzwords in, but postmodern wasnt used so he still has work to do.

Frampton is clearly a butthead. Didn’t care for his music back in the day, can’t imagine plopping down good money to see him today.

[Cincinatus]

Life is just what happens to you while your busy making other plans. — John Lennon

[wally_bert]

I will take my 60D and kit with me a lot. Mostly to get stuff for stock video and a photo sometimes. Seeing everyone going crazy with smartphones all the time annoys me to no end. Not every second has to be captured.

[left that other site]

So True.

[HoosierWordsmith]

Once (circa 1974-75) saw Peter Frampton perform at a high school gym in Connecticut prior to release of ‘Frampton Comes Alive’. Our family home had only one rotary phone in those days...ha! Got no iPhotos, but can still clearly recall Frampton on stage using his talk box...awesome concert with high school friends...great memories!

[Agamemnon]

Confession and wake up call ....

Over the Labor Day weekend in 1992 -- back when the SciFi channel was somewhat new and fairly watchable -- they had a "Prisoner Marathon." You know, all 17 episodes of the iconic 1960's show starring and directed by Patrick McGoohan -- showing sequentially over and over all week end long.

Well, I set up the VCR to record each episode as I watched them with the purpose of filtering out the commercials that showed up seemingly after every 5 minutes of actual story-line.

Yes, I babysat that VCR and came out with a stack VHS's all purged of any the commercials. Couch potato all weekend. Broke away long enough to flip a few burgers for everyone else. Pissed away he entire weekend.

A couple of years later, you could buy the entire series now in DVD for ~$18 at Price Club, that became Costco.

Ya think I ever watched those VHS's? Nope.

Do I remember a wasted holiday 22 years later? Yes, I do.

Did I learn from that experience a little bit about the value of one's time - and the potential for wasting it chasing media and entertainment under the guise of preserving such things for future generations? Yes, I did.

That said, last month I got to see Gordon Lightfoot perform again in Norwalk, CT on the old High School stage. It occurred to me that the last time I had seen him perform, it was 26 yeas ago.

I was 3 rows from the front, dead center sitting with my wife. When he played "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald," I recorded a ~45 second slice of it to send to my son up at UCONN because, it is his favorite song.

My boy wasn't even born yet, the last time I saw Gordon Lightfoot in concert, but for a 76-year old standing up there and giving it his best for 2 hours, one realizes why Lightfoot is such a musical treasure.

Lived the moment. Shared the moment.

All things in moderation ....

FReegards!

[PrincessB]

Last concert I went to I saw very few phones. Most phones came out when the headliner came down into the audience and sang directly to one fan. Plenty of opportunities for a close up shot when he did that. I think a lot of us had seen a concert on YouTube that had abysmal audience reaction due to everyone in the audience filming. Some of the best performer/audience energy I’ve experienced since the early 90’s.

[MortMan]

Americans seem intent on recording so many aspects of their life in the hopes of catching a magic moment on film that will make it all so memorable.

We used to experience life, recording the magic moments in our heads and occasionally memorializing them with film or photo.

The old way was so much better!

[reed13k]

A long time ago in my younger days I had a thing for getting souveniers everywhere I went....everywhere - just little knickknacks. I eventually realized that I was missing out on the site itself when I was busy shopping. So now I will buy a bookend - or bookend useable object on large trips/first visits, maybe a book - but otherwise just enjoy the time and the location.

I likely take too many photos, but that’s partly because it is a minor hobby (framing the shot, lighting, etc) and not because I’m trying to “capture the moment”.

[hummingbird]

Right now, I'm taking a Selfie of myself reading posts and making posts on Free Republic.

(Just Kidding! Or, am I?)