Instant photography and its consequences have been a disaster for the human race.

I must not be the only person on this site with a similar sentiment. The obsession with and accessibility of instant digital photography has fundamentally changed the way in which people interact within the world. People no longer live experiences; they record them. The Western world and parts of Asia I believe have been the most heavily affected by this dreadful phenomenon. Billions of humans that now think it is totally normal to broadcast extremely intimate parts of their lives (mundane things too of course) to the greater population. Not to the mention the privacy ramifications that have arisen as a result. As Richard Stallman said, and I’m paraphrasing slightly here; “Cellphones would have been Stalans dream”. People now willingly upload their crimes onto social media platforms. That is really the level of information desensitisation that we are dealing with here. The worst part is that due to the rising levels of technological integration in our daily lives it Is getting harder and harder to simply opt out (at least for most “normal” people). And, on top of that, even if you DO choose to opt out, you will most likely STILL be integrated into the system via third parties one way or another; (Family/Work photographs, mandatory identification for more and more mundane issues, security cameras, random people filming for social media on the street, non libre software, e.t.c…) . At this point unless you are a proper hiki/recluse (an ideal that is sadly not feasible for most people) you are forced into the system. What was once an optional tool has slowly become, through gradual behavioural decay, an item that most would not even be able to conceive living without. Sort of digital Stockholm syndrome I guess. In terms of mitigation tactics I come up empty handed. I thought we could maybe generate some ideas in this thread regarding what could be done about this. Above all else, if you still possess a smartphone I would highly suggest that you really reflect on how necessary it is to you and consider getting rid of it. If you really need long distance communication, use mail or a “dumbphone”, if you love photography as an artform, use an actual camera and if you enjoy music while out of the house, simply download the songs and put them onto an mp3 player.

Agreed. Another thing is, it didn't ruin the integrity of painting/other visual arts, but I would say in a world that previously held painting as an important and esteemed craft, instant photography caused most of the human race to devalue it.

>>2
Yes I agree too. Even more so recently with the massive rise of AI slop that is polluting the internet and taking value away from digital visual media.

imo a lot isn't gonna change for better unless mass amounts of ppl work for it and/or those who get the most out of having systems like this don't have that power anymore. most ppl it's kinda scary how quickly it seems like people just accepted this. what pisses me off the most is randos just post strangers minding their own business to farm them for likes or video content. i hope at least ppl get sick of that shit, and maybe the tik tokers being so annoying and weird might be turning a small tide on that. but enough to do anything? we'll see ig. i'm not too positive in all honesty.

what i do know you're right about getting a camera. i found an old one from the 2000s in my place and it's been awesome so far.

>>1

recording is only a bad thing if rich people could be able to access them (and try to make assumtions about you and figure what you like so they could play ads for you.). as much as i like to agree with you, "thinking people dont live, they record" i just cant,... sometimes you wanna relive what you felt (without what "people" think), and show your girlfriend or family... whatever bitch, whenever i see somebody record a psycho stabbing people in the street, i think sweet that person captured a wonderful moment to share with their special interests... i know this sounds pathetic but whenever something interests me in a video, i record it, just in case i could impress somebody and get that street cred that worthess ins retrospective... i cleaned this post to much to make it try to be logical (at least an 2 hours), but you're just gotta bear with me here...

>>5
>>1

sure you gotta make sacrifices in whatever you like to interact with the world, i've made songs that sound good to me, but i've used samples to crutch me upinto stance. it literally changes the world as you say, but i feel like its worth it...

>>1
schizophrenia and it's consequences

1>> to me hand-held tech is extremely under utilised currently because of hardware/copyright and poeple in tech being little gold gobblings, but the coming change is inevitable every dream will come true the everything machine is already

>>8
again, schizophrenia and its consequences

>>9 admittedly that sounded far weirder than i intended it to be lmaoo ig we're all not that different after all

>>7
I do not have schizophrenia. I just feel strongly about this subject. The world is going to shit and I want to do something about it.

>>11
you cant do shit for this world

>>12
I agree. It is just fun to write my silly words and larp as if change is possible.

>>13
fair

A good way to at least mediate the effects of the phone camera panopticon would be by applying Japan's audible camera shutter law in every country in the world. It's a small change, and it absolutely wouldn't change everything you've listed, but it would prevent most people from taking pictures or videos of strangers without their consent, since the stranger would know. It's disturbing that those sorts of laws don't exist already.

mass proliferation of mediated images has fucked up our society. i don't support the taliban but when they banned pictures I understood why. they were trying to protect tribal society from total image induced brainmelt. there are too many fucking images everywhere and too many AI and photoshopped images. It distorts our collective sense of reality.

>>1 I like the ease of a smarphone to be able to take photos.It fits in my pocket, so I don't draw attention to myself holding an old classic camera, that people feel an inner need to perform for, rather than to just be a curiosity. I don't take many memory snaps like we would with an old film camera. I capture interesting details of decay and waste, which I spot when not using my phone outside. Point I'm making is, we can still enjoy the current tech, while also being mindful of the implications of uploading to social media for likes and updoots. I don't upload them to an album, they're for me. Sometimes, I use them in my creative projects. Again to state, that its how we use them, not the be all and end all of degeneration in the masses. Maybe one day I put together an art project of all the interesting ones and put it in a gallery somewhere. But for now, they're for me, and my own creative pursuits.

The problem is not photography nor ai nor the internet, people are the problem and have always been. Photography had the potential to liberate society as it democratized the production of images that historically had always been in control of the aristocracy of the Artists. But because the masses desire for fascism, what could have been a source of liberation turned instead into the self surveillance you are describing.

>>18
I don't think the problem is the case of the masses desiring fascism but precisely the democratization of a skilled art. This is what you get when you release a delicate medium to the hands of the clueless. Most people are visually illiterate and cannot decode the meaning of an image let alone compose one themselves so is it a suprise that it has only led to a sea of superfluous and inane bullshit? At least with the democratization of text via the printing press and internet you can opt out of reading crap midway but if you see an image its meaning is transmitted directly and immediately in its wholeness to you without your consent. The creation of a photograph lacks duration and can thus be done without thought if it isn't planned beforehand, unlike painting or drawing. That's what makes it such a potent propaganda tool. Everyone can see but few can interpret. What is needed is visual education of the masses.

What is needed is visual education of the masses.

I'd settle for any kind of education for the masses. The education system is deliberately generating gammas and deltas, a la Huxley.

>>17
This thread is about a general trend, not about each person's individual smartphone usage. Regardless of how mindful you are about smartphone cameras, their proliferation has, indeed, had negative effects on society.
You're no different from those people who say "but I have a gun, and I've never shot anyone!" when people are talking about gun control and mass shootings.

>>21
People don't say that

>>22
people say things that are close enough to that (in america)

The real problem with photography is all the cameras are taking all the photons. Those photons could help the blind in africa, but no we give them to cameras!

One thing I struggle with in the realm of instant photo and video is grounding myself in reality. So much of visual media is unreal, that I find it difficult these days to really believe what I'm seeing. That's why I prefer a board like this one. It's easier for me to process information when I read it as opposed to looking at it.

These days, I find that it's important to limit myself to exposure of images in general. I had a dumb phone for a year, but got a smartphone so I could more easily text people and do basic administrative stuff. Even these days, I barely spend 30 minutes a day on it, if that.

Computer use is varied, but these days I try to only use my computer to update my website, read, message friends, and listen to music. This honestly takes up most of my day, but I try to keep things as low-key as I can regarding my computer usage.