Scientific research

begins to provide

credible evidence

Smartphone cameras are so ubiquitous they come between us and the experience we are trying to capture.

PRESIDENT OBAMA caused a minor kerfuffle when he was photographed taking a selfie with British Prime Minister David Cameron and Denmark’s Prime Minister Helle Thorning Schmidt at the memorial for Nelson Mandela.
The politics notwithstanding, this raises anew a question that has been explored anecdotally for quite some time: does ubiquitous snapping of smartphone pictures diminish our experience of the events themselves?
Almost everyone carries a camera these days, and there seems no limit on how many snapshots we are willing to take.
But a newly published scientific study concludes that, indeed, the act of taking a picture – supposedly to keep the memory of the moment – actually interferes with that very memory. It is weakened.

MILLENNIALS SEARCH FOR ANSWERS, BUT WORD OF THE YEAR IS ‘SELFIE’
Young men and women coming of age since the Great Recession are seeking more than material success in life.
They are seeking a meaningful life, defined as having more concern for others and less interest in material goods.
This concern for others is what adds meaning to life,
Indeed, that is a worthy life goal, the essence of what one could call a life well lived.