At any concert, you’ll see it—teenagers holding their phones in the air, recording every moment instead of being in the present. Beach days, sunsets, dinners with friends and school events have all become a time to take photos and share them on social media. What used to be teenagers freely enjoying a moment together is now “performative,” with a constant urge to prove inclusion and acceptance online by sharing every event they attend. This new reality hinders teenagers’ ability to live in the present moment and to enjoy what is happening around them.
Teenagers are constantly in competition with their peers. Tests and academics, club sport teams and social friend group status are all seemingly competitions to see who is, and seems, the most successful. Excessive social media posting is just one example of the desire to prove self-worth, to themselves and others. This drive to constantly prove that our lives are “fun” replaces authentic joy with performance, leading to a distracted experience and potential anxiety.
Social media platforms are designed to be addictive, even leading to withdrawals similar to those one might face from substances. JMR publications held a systematic review of interventions limiting social media use to see how this affects mental well-being. Among 23 studies, nine (39 percent) showed improvements after intervention. This means the individuals felt better with reduced social media usage, revealing its negative effects.
The National Library of Medicine conducted three studies that resulted in a phenomenon: individuals taking more photos during an event had impaired recollection of that event compared to those not taking photos. This means that by using photography during an event (even without posting) instead of being present, leads to the brain’s “off memory loading.” Across all three experiments, individuals who photographed objects remembered less than those who only looked at them. It goes to show that taking our phones out to simply take a photo is actually doing the opposite of “capturing the moment.”
I see this trend among my friends and the Marin community. On special occasions like dinner outings, we reach for our phones not just to doomscroll, but to make a TikTok, take a photo of our meal or a flick with our friends at the location. Admittedly, these photos are (most of the time) not for ourselves, but to share for friends and strangers online. This is concerning because instead of being in the present and enjoying our time with the people we care about, the itch to post on social media lurks in the back of our minds, and the need to record and post our whereabouts trumps the quality time we could be spending with one another.
Some may argue that photos last forever in our camera roll and can help us remember events in the past. Not to mention, it only takes a few seconds to take out our phones and snap a picture, therefore, it may not take us away from the present for very long. Although the irony is that the photos we take to remember an occasion often stop us from truly living, because we are infatuated with taking the “perfect” photo to post on our feeds. This changes the narrative and the goal becomes less about the photo itself and more about our followers’ reactions. It is under our control to reclaim presence and mindfulness by being in the moment. As a collective, we can try to post with intention, without obsession, and then put the phone away, not obsessing over the likes and comments it receives. Your own life doesn’t need to be recorded and seen by others to be enjoyed. In fact, life is more fulfilling without the constant urge to broadcast what we are doing; to practice contentment with ourselves and our surroundings.
