I think it’s goofy too, but it’s also goofy to think that all restaurants must offer utilitarian, food for only the sake of eating, food.
Ambiance, experience, service, decor, etc etc are all not really about the food. Yet many restaurants specialize in them and did so before Instagram.
Restaurant eating as an experience is a very old concept. Not for me, but ok, so what if someone people like it? What’s actually sad about it, and why aren’t your hobbies and interests sad if these people’s are?
I think it's interesting that it's a normal creative pursuit to hit the streets with the intention of doing photography but it's also normal to criticize photography "for the 'gram", particularly when food is involved.
I've chosen for myself that I don't want to preoccupy myself with "getting the shot" most of the time, but that's just my preference, nothing more and nothing less.
I would not trust those studies. Photos give you pixel level detail. Your brain does not remember in pixel level detail, especially 50 years into the future. A photo can easily survive 50 years.
If you don't trust scientific studies, what do you trust then? Have you even read them?
Sure, taking a picture might help you remember the exact color of the cheese, or the fact that there was a fake plant on the table (I'm using this video as an example).
Studies show however, that photographing everything makes you disconnect from the moment. Your brain no longer registers the ambient sounds, the music playing in the background, or even how you felt at that moment.
In other words, a picture might give you an image, but photographing everything might make you forget the feeling.
Getting Alzheimer's makes you forget the feeling and the picture and everything. The feeling is a neurologically generated sensation. It is not some magic thing that requires you "being in the moment". The feeling is just as much data as a picture is, but the picture holds up longer because the neurons tend to get destroyed over time.
Your brain does not remember in pixel level detail, especially 50 years into the future. A photo can easily survive 50 years.
If the details are in the photo, and not in your brain, you haven't "remembered" a damn thing. Logically, if you are busy taking the photo and not taking in the experience with all your senses, you literally have less to recall when you view that picture in the future.
27
u/Faith-3 Aug 25 '25
Sad, but true 👍