Prompt No. 7—Daily journal (June 21, 2016)
Do you worry we are filming too much?
Argumentative writing by Peggy Glennie
Yes and no. We seem to have cameras everywhere anymore: street lights, building entrances, stop lights, throughout school hallways. Does anyone even watch those cameras? Or is it more for “backup”—kind of after the fact after something goes wrong. “D’oh—now we know who to blame.” Too bad yuou couldn’t prevent it from happening in the first place.
For no—the ubiquitousess of smart phones that can record everything lead to the natural creation of what we call “YouTube”—we needed a forum to display all this video, no matter how profound or profane.
I must admit I have enjoyed seeing things I never knew existed (Helen Keller speaking) and to see historic events (like the surrender of Japan after World War II). I have also enjoyed seeing videos of small moments of my family who live so far away: my great-nieces dancing at a park, my niece and her company returning home from Afghanistan and marching into the hangar from their plane. I couldn’t be there, but the person who took the time to record that let me share in these moments. And that’s what they are—moments.
As to the yes, we seem, as a society, to record everything. Do we really need a “historical” or “permanent” record of people making faces and acting silly? Once that “moment” is gone, the humor has lost its context. It’s a waste.
We’ve also gotten to the point where we expect everything to be recorded—no more personal responsibility. “Why should I look at scenery while we travel? I can just watch the video.” We’re losing, as a society, the immediacy of the moment.
And, that’s what they are—moments. Odd how that theme kept cropping up—it wasn’t planned or intentional.
We do expect, as a negative, that after every momentous event, to see (or hear) a recording of it. During the Orlando shootings—seriously, who decided to record that rather than taking cover? And storm chasers—going after tornadoes. Seriously? It’s cool to look at but not necessary. We’ve just become so used to having this record we can’t think for ourselves—only the popularity of something going viral.