What I have always hated is traveling with people constantly taking pictures. Not only can you not share the moments with them, but they repeatedly interrupt the travel for the sake of the picture.
Now, with cell phones, this has spread to any event, however, trivial. An afternoon walk in the woods? An evening out for dinner? All must be “captured” for posterity—or at least Facebook.
Good thought. There is a difference between capturing a poignant moment vs. cataloging a trip. Most people lean towards the catalog, creating a deck of images that will likely spend eternity in the package (or these days nested in a folder with 10,000 other digital snapshots just like them).
The author touched on one other thing when he said, "And he remembered something else: "the incessant clicks and motorized whirrs as the other tourists desperately tried to capture the moment for posterity.""
I was fortunate enough to grow up in a time when we would vacation to places where we were often the only visitors. I hate crowds and avoid them whenever possible. I can't imagine the circumstances where I could be in the midst of the herd and capture a moment worth having or remembering.
Perhaps Øbongo's execution would be an exception ;')
It doesn't mean that some things are better experienced sans camera. . .but I think its not an either/or decision.