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.