Is social media detrimental vacations?

[destrekor]

So true. A couple I know came back from a 7 day trip to England with 12000 pictures. Like.. What?

To be fair, many photographers easily rack up those kinds of numbers in digital format. It's almost stupid not too - with film, you had to be far more exacting, practically staging scenes if you really wanted to minimize wasted photos. With digital, shoot a ton with barely any planning, check back later for the good ones and delete the rest. And you can more easily play with exposure settings, so you can take some lazy approaches with settings and composition because you aren't wasting anything and get to see immediate feedback.

I am typically terrible about deleting as I go. lol

 

[:emaN resU]

My wife planned at least half our last vacation based on photos she saw on social media. I didn't have a lot of time to help, so I mostly kept my mouth shut other than a few "this place has some poor reviews, but looks pretty..."

The excursions planned based off of cool pictures she saw were, in my opinion, a complete waste of time and money.

People spend way too much time these days trying to show other people what a great time they are having and not experiencing it themselves.

 

[Exterous]

To be fair, many photographers easily rack up those kinds of numbers in digital format. It's almost stupid not too - with film, you had to be far more exacting, practically staging scenes if you really wanted to minimize wasted photos. With digital, shoot a ton with barely any planning, check back later for the good ones and delete the rest. And you can more easily play with exposure settings, so you can take some lazy approaches with settings and composition because you aren't wasting anything and get to see immediate feedback.

I am typically terrible about deleting as I go. lol

12,000 is still crazy though. I wouldn't want to go through and rank those for post processing or delete them (or have to store them). Also with that many pictures over that long of a trip you're really just snapping away. I get playing with settings and having multiple composed shots but some people go way overboard.

 

[Exterous]

My wife planned at least half our last vacation based on photos she saw on social media. I didn't have a lot of time to help, so I mostly kept my mouth shut other than a few "this place has some poor reviews, but looks pretty..."

The excursions planned based off of cool pictures she saw were, in my opinion, a complete waste of time and money.

People spend way too much time these days trying to show other people what a great time they are having and not experiencing it themselves.

Agreed. And I think a lot of the social media shots are doctored with various filters to get an unrealistic look.

 

[destrekor]

12,000 is still crazy though. I wouldn't want to go through and rank those for post processing or delete them (or have to store them). Also with that many pictures over that long of a trip you're really just snapping away. I get playing with settings and having multiple composed shots but some people go way overboard.

Well for sure, I never get that many, to do so over a vacation would require that my eye is pretty much always experiencing the vacation through the viewfinder, and I have no intention of ever doing that. But I can imagine that it is easy to do for those who are obsessed with documenting every boring moment. My eyes when taking photos while being touristy isn't focusing on the touristy traps and the types of things every tourist ever is capturing to share (or not) and forget down the road; I'd rather focus on the artsy side and capturing unique things, or at least unique angles of the otherwise ordinary tourist photos. I rarely ever care about "here's us at ____" and "here's another one at ___ but it's different" and "oh look at the bird we caught in this almost identical photo of us at ____" and "here's us at this other famous _____" and "said famous _____ with funny poses" and "look at the idiot in this one in front of famous _____".

I hate wasting time on those. I'd rather really see everything that everybody else is ignoring.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

When it comes to making vacation plans, the only thing I use social media for is directions, maps, costs etc. Why the fvck would anyone look at someone else's pics of that place as a factor in what to see?

 

[purbeast0]

It certainly can. People are more worried about taking pictures to post on Facebook or Instagram than they are just enjoying where they are in the moment. I saw a girl in Aruba once taking selfies down by the shore for literally 45 minutes. It was incredible to watch. It was actually the first time I ever saw a selfie stick too. But hey, if it floats your boat, whatever, it's not bothering me.

I like to take pictures too on vacation don't get me wrong, and I take a shitload, but it's not to post on FB. And most of them don't include myself either, it includes the scenery that I won't be able to see when I'm gone. I can see myself by looking in the mirror. I do like getting pics of me, my wife, and my family though but never overboard with that.

EDIT:

It for fucking sure ruined The Louve for me. You should have seen the room with Mona Lisa. It was nothing but a clusterfuck of people taking selfies with that tiny ass painting.

 

[TheVrolok]

EDIT:

It for fucking sure ruined The Louve for me. You should have seen the room with Mona Lisa. It was nothing but a clusterfuck of people taking selfies with that tiny ass painting.

Absolutely this. It was fairly frustrating when I was in Rome and Paris last summer. Rather than see these works of art, pieces of history, and thinking about what the world was like at the time of their creation, the lives of the artists, what they've meant to history/culture, etc. Etc. so many people push their way in, giggling, snap a selfie, and rush just as quickly out. It's like Pokémon, people just want to "collect an experience," rather than actually have one.

I know I sound like a curmudgeon, but, well, people are fucking annoying.

 

[zinfamous]

I'm surprised that they allow any sort of photography in the Louvre, much less in the Mona Lisa room. I guess smartphones just reached that critical mass where they gave up? I don't recall that being allowed when I was there and in the Vatican, there were guards every 15 feet or so scanning the crowd for cameras...this was before people were putting cameras on phones, though.

If I were running the Louvre (or, any museum), all phones and all cameras would be checked at the door. You want a record of some thing you saw? Well, there is the internet.

 

[WelshBloke]

So true. A couple I know came back from a 7 day trip to England with 12000 pictures. Like.. What?

Wtf! If they stayed awake 24/7 for the week and took pictures constantly thats over one a minute!

 

[snoopy7548]

It certainly can. People are more worried about taking pictures to post on Facebook or Instagram than they are just enjoying where they are in the moment. I saw a girl in Aruba once taking selfies down by the shore for literally 45 minutes. It was incredible to watch. It was actually the first time I ever saw a selfie stick too. But hey, if it floats your boat, whatever, it's not bothering me.

I like to take pictures too on vacation don't get me wrong, and I take a shitload, but it's not to post on FB. And most of them don't include myself either, it includes the scenery that I won't be able to see when I'm gone. I can see myself by looking in the mirror. I do like getting pics of me, my wife, and my family though but never overboard with that.

EDIT:

It for fucking sure ruined The Louve for me. You should have seen the room with Mona Lisa. It was nothing but a clusterfuck of people taking selfies with that tiny ass painting.

I feel the same way too - other people taking selfies doesn't bother me. But I do hate it when I have to stop whatever I'm doing to have my picture taken. You're out with family, you get your food and you start to eat but then you have to stop for a picture, and then the waiter doesn't know how to use the camera and they take one, but it didn't come out that great so they take another. You can only fake a smile for so long when you're hungry.

 

[LogicBoard]

Ugh don't get me started. I think it doesn't help get people to be present to fully enjoy. They're not there to enjoy. They're busy creating a fake perfect reality for people who don't care.

 

[clamum]

So true. A couple I know came back from a 7 day trip to England with 12000 pictures. Like.. What?

Pfffft. Well, that way the attention-starved couple can spam their Facebooks with them and say to everyone "LOOK AT US!" Either that or those pictures will never even be looked at again (I'm guilty of that too).

People in general are just too obsessed with taking stupid fucking pictures when they should be experiencing and enjoying themselves in the moment. STOP caring what others on social media think... jeez, you've got a disorder if you do (to a large degree).

 

[GobBluth]

Social media is detrimental to everything. Just ask Congress.

 

[zCypher]

It doesn't really bother me that much, tbh i'm more amused by people that get disproportionately aggravated about it. Although I will admit that seeing people hold up a giant tablet to get a shot does make me chuckle!

Lousy tourists straight up destroying nice places is a legit issue, but as a photography enthusiast myself, it would be hypocritical of me to take issue with people just trying to grab shots - selfies or otherwise. I can let that one slide.

Social media in general, it's one of those things I only use when I feel like using it. Notifications are always disabled, things I don't want to see are always unfollowed, etc. I can imagine that without taking the steps to make it work for me, it probably would be annoying. But thankfully that's easy to handle.