We often interrupt moments with a need to capture it. The reasons are plenty. We want to share the moment with others on social media, with family and friends, and sometimes simply for memory sake. Since quitting social media, my desire to capture moments has mostly gone away. It now feels tedious and pointless to take a picture or a video of an experience; I don’t have a platform to share it on so I don’t bother. Usually, I only capture a moment if I want to share it with someone specific that I know would appreciate it. Otherwise, I try and be in the moment and enjoy it. Somehow, I still have 1,522 videos on my phone.

Recently, I went to a small concert at a park to celebrate Ethiopian New Year, and feeling very nostalgic and joyful, I pulled out my phone and started recording a video. As I was recording I had the thought: will I ever watch this again? I thought about the hundreds, if not most of the 1,500 videos on my phone that I rarely, if ever, look at. Was it worth interrupting the moment, watching it through a screen and becoming more concerned with how well I was filming the performance for a video I probably would never look at again? I put away my phone and had a great time.

It’s another mental-shift I am adapting to reduce the digital interrupting the reality around me. What am I going to do with these pictures and videos after? What am I missing out on while trying to record this video? Do I really need to capture this moment to remember it? As they say, the best way to ruin a moment is to try and capture it. What makes a moment special is that it is a moment. And most moments can never be accurately captured by the lens anyway, like a beautiful sunset that takes your breath away but as soon as you point the camera at it, it just doesn’t do it justice.

Be in the moment.

Until next time,

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