A picture lasts a lifetime

Whether or not they are an accurate portrayal of our history, pictures shape our memory. I remember being quite miserable for every orchestrated family photo shoot that we paid to do professionally, but you would never guess it from the result. I wanted to run around and sitting still was the most painful experience, but the pictures always turned out great and they simulated a beautiful family experience.

If there is one advantage to this technology craze, it's that there will be an abundance of memories to look back on, fondly or not. When we are old and nostalgic, or when people die, it can be cathartic to look back at old photos and remember them fondly.

But sometimes it can be hard to look back at memories. Not all of them are pleasant. One face can trigger an intense emotional response that the individual might not be comfortable with. With the age of technology, that memory will exist forever. Or until I find a way to trigger an electronic apocalypse.

Memory making or bust

It seems as though people have a hard time doing something for the sake of doing something. As a result of the "life competition" that exists on social media, people feel the need to go big with their life choices, and obviously feel the need to record it so they can share it. People are never completely relaxed and in the moment, because they are constantly looking for that perfect moment to capture to share with the world.

It's hard to be fully engaged when there is this nagging voice in the back of your head telling you "oooooo this is going to get so many likes on Instagram". It is all about getting that perfect picture for your memory recording purposes. People can be out in the most beautiful part of nature with their phone in their hand. But nature is about getting your hands dirty and I am proud to say that I have broken countless phones or had them fall in bodies of water because I forgot that I had them on my person as I was fully engaged in nature.

It has been my experience that it is one or the other. You are other concerned with recording the event for the world to see, or else you are fully engaged and technology is the last thing on your mind. You will not see me contributing much in the way of sharing memories through technology because it is rare that I remember to do so. I invested a significant amount of money in a nice camera that attached to my phone, only to have used it twice in the years since I've purchased it. I am so captivated by nature that I forget that I have a camera. Or else any time I try to capture the beauty of the moment, the camera doesn't do it justice and I grow frustrated.

This is not to say that I am better than this generation in terms of technology reliance. I am addicted to Facebook, and although I do not share much content, I use it as a means to communicate with people who I might not otherwise have the opportunity to do so with. But it is an addiction nevertheless. But I also know that I am captivated by life on a moment-by-moment basis and it is up to me to cut myself off from technology so that I can live in the moment and truly experience what makes memories great.

All or nothing

Most everyone can remember some of the struggles with their youth. We are so insecure, naturally looking at the people around us and comparing ourselves against the best. No one is immune to it. When I was younger, I was what you would consider one of the cool kids. I had a lot of friends, good looking girlfriends, did well in school, and was a successful athlete.

That did not stop me from being devastatingly insecure. There was always some place where I was inadequate. In spite of feeling accepted, I never accepted myself. It was typically something I had no control over, like my height or skinny frame. There was nothing you could say or do to make me feel better about it; I did not know how to love or accept myself and that did not come until much later in life. And this was in an age before social media and technology.

How will today's children remember their childhood? I was taught to compartmentalize and compare myself to others on a small scale; I looked around at my high school and saw how I matched up. Sure, I aspired to look like the professional athletes that I admired, but it was silly to compare ourselves physically. Now every insecure child can pick up their phone and access photos of famous, beautiful, photoshopped people. There are limitless insecurities available to young people.

There is a link between young people and increasing numbers of depression, and I don't need to see the numbers. I see it every day. Depression runs rampant; if people trust you enough to be honest about it, they will disclose an alarming level of despair. There is a link between the use of social media and dopamine release; a "like" gives you a natural high, and kids are now being conditioned to this from a young age.

It has been my experience that an uplifting message, depending on the source, will get a minuscule amount of positive reinforcement as a selfie from an attractive individual. There are the "haves" and the "have-nots". People with god given beauty are glorified, while the rest are left feeling inadequate. The marginalized will feel even more marginalized, and this will heavily impact someone's memory of their childhood, if they make it out alive.

Self Obsession

I believe that this connection between the photo and memory has created a new cultural identity that has both positive and negative effects. We have become much more individualized; previous generations were taught to find value in being part of something bigger than themselves. Younger people find value in themselves. Technology and social media have made us feel unique and special and we demand to be treated as such.

This can become a problem when you reach the "real world" and you learn that you are less like a snowflake, distinct among snowflakes, and instead learn that you are a functioning cog in some great machinery serving something beyond yourself. Finding out that you aren't that special can be soul-crushing.

Without getting too political, I think this can also be a good thing. Young people are demanding more of their employers, and people are beginning to see the flaws with capitalism. It is also creating a new era of free thinkers who are not bound by their parents views of religions and politics. Things are becoming more individualized in a good way.

The real problem, however, is the self-obsession that tends to go hand-in-hand with social media. Every positive reinforcement of a "selfie" tells a person that their looks are inherent to their self worth, creating a culture of intense vanity. Those who are in the "not" in terms of beauty have their insecurities magnified ten-fold when they see the popularity of Instagram models. Our memory of ourselves from any given moment in time can become jaded by the lack of attention we receive on social media. We empower the vain and inflict pain on the rest.

Unconscious Perfectionism

By defining a snapshot as spontaneous and without artistic or journalistic intent, we can see how far we have come from the innocence of the Kodak moment. They were intended to capture a memory in it's purest and inherently flawed form; our obsession with professional photography of our own design has created an inaccurate concept of memory. Our culture demands the perfect picture for the perfect memory.

It has become a cultural phenomenon; people practice their smile, practice their duckface, practice their pose, practice symmetry and balance in the placement of their arms and legs, practice perfection. And this is encouraged by social media, by Instagram models who become rich and famous by portraying perfection, by Facebook and Twitter photos that makes us feel inadequate if they don't reach the predetermined number of likes required for happiness, by Snapchat that we think gives an accurate portrayal of the human experience.

Some of my most "popular" photos were taken when I was at my lowest points in life. The picture was not a reflection of the moment. And many of my happiest moments do not have an accompanying photo, because I was so enthralled with the experience and my surroundings that I wouldn't even think of stopping it for a photo shoot.

Technology, photography, and social media trick us into thinking that we need to project the perfect life. We live in competition with one another, to prove that our experience was more perfect than another's. We create unrealistic expectations for ourselves and struggle to find happiness in everyday living.

Is it a coincidence that depression and suicide rates have steadily risen every year since 1999? Correlation certainly does not mean causation, but it seems as though there is this unconscious pressure to be doing the next great thing. If we are not doing something significant, and more importantly submitting for the world to see, then what are we doing? It can make a person feel very insignificant. I embrace the flawed nature of my humanity and try to capture that in every picture. And my little sister does too, occasionally.

Introduction

It was enlightening to me that in preparation for writing on this topic, I had to look up the definition of the word "snapshot". I am at an awkward age caught between a generation of people who largely lived without the internet and mobile phones, immersed in a generation of people who have never known a life without it. The snapshot is dead, replaced by Snapchat. Photos are so commonplace that they are used as a form of communication.

Webster defines a snapshot as "a casual photograph made typically by an amateur with a small handheld camera." Wikipedia elaborates further, saying that it is "a photograph that is 'shot' spontaneously and quickly, most often without artistic or journalistic intent." These definitions feel prehistoric.

There was a time when you took a picture and you had no idea how it looked until the film was developed. There was no obsession with perfection; you took one snapshot and you moved on with your life. It was something personal, meant for you and whomever the moment was shared with. Professional photos were taken so that you could hang them above the fireplace to share with those who you were willing to let into the intimate space of your home.

I am constantly plagued by nostalgia. The snap of a disposable camera's shutter was usually followed by the laughter of knowing you had accepted your fate. There was no huddling around to find the best one, no retaking of pictures if there wasn't an acceptable one, no pain in the face as you hold your fake smile for unnatural lengths. Memories were genuine and were not manufactured. The pictures were grainy and awkward and had red eyes and ugly clothes and funny looking furniture. We were truly amateurs with no intentions other than capturing that realness of that memory with an imperfect snapshot.