By: Cole Buergi, VP of Business Development, Leonard & Finco Public Relations
Camera and video technology has advanced incredibly and now,
anyone with a smart phone, has the capability of taking photos and video on a
moment’s notice.
It has led to some great, heartwarming events including
soldiers returning to surprise their family members after a long deployment.
We’ve also been able to see some very cute, cuddly animals doing silly things
that just make us laugh. And, just recently, we had a chance to strengthen our
faith in humanity as someone created a video for Facebook asking for help to
fix his neighbor’s roof that was in disrepair. The video went viral and there
was a huge outpouring of community support.
Technology can also bring to the forefront the bad things
that happen in our society. Recent shootings caught on video are stirring a
huge debate about gun control, law enforcement activities and seemingly
emboldening criminals seeking greater notoriety for their misdeeds. For
example, the recent murder of a TV news crew that was captured on video by the
alleged murderer and posted to his Facebook page.
Of course, then there is the just plain dumb. For instance,
the 23-year-old job applicant that sent nude selfies to the human resource
manager that just offered him a job. Not surprisingly, the job offer was
rescinded. And, then there are those who damage monuments and other treasured
places, in an effort to get a photo of themselves climbing on or dangling from
them. Finally, those folks that record themselves getting hurt doing incredibly
risky stunts (that are sure to fail) just to get more followers on their page.
I support technological advances and appreciate the
capabilities of my phone and what it has done to capture precious moments on
photo or video. However, I do believe that many people have lost all sense of
reality or common sense when it comes to this.
For instance, on a recent trip to New York, I saw a
significant number of folks carrying selfie sticks and using them to take
photos / video of themselves for no apparent reason. That, in itself, is no big
deal (although I find it a bit annoying), but when you’re in a mob of people
all flowing in one direction in Times Square, it’s maddening to have someone
stop in front of you just to take a photo of themselves with no significant
backdrop that we could see. In fact, one time the person’s backdrop was one of
the hundreds of t-shirt shops lining Broadway. Of course, their selfishness
created a log jam of people who had to stop and wait for this narcissist to
finish taking the umpteenth picture of himself that day.
What are your thoughts? Has this photo / video craze gone
too far? Have you ever experienced a time when you saw someone taking a selfie
and just thought to yourself, “really?”
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