They say “A picture is worth a thousand words,” but is that really the case?

Picture this. You’ve just returned home from spending a few hours hanging out and eating dinner with a group of friends. Now you are home and you get on your phone. How many photos did you and your friends take in those few hours while you were “socializing” with each other?  Ten? Fifty? None at all? How many photos have you taken in the last week, and how many of those pictures are truly meaningful?

On average, today’s teenagers typically spend over six hours on their phones and take approximately twenty-four pictures daily. Other studies show that somewhere between fifty to one-hundred-and-fifty pictures are sent per person per day through the app Snapchat. Whether those pictures are selfies, or true to life images using the forward facing camera, digital photos are undeniably becoming abundant throughout the media.

All across the planet people are becoming comfortable with taking pictures and posting on social media. However, that bountiful amount of digital photography we see everyday through ads and feed makes me question; just how many of those pictures are really meaningful to us? Out of all of the digital photos you have taken on your phone, are there any certain images that mean a great deal to you?

Although it is it utilized in great quantity today, there are still several benefits to digital, cell phone photography. For example, there is undoubtedly a satisfaction when it comes to being able to see the product of your snapshot instantly. Also, you can take countless amounts of photos and absolutely perfect the composition (and your pose) without any additional charge.

This topic spurs even more questions. Spending so much time attempting to perfect the shot can take away from the moment and what is really happening. As Katherine Schulten asks herself in her article for the New York Times, “Do I really remember standing in front of Big Ben as a child, or do I just remember the photo of me doing so?” The overwhelming media that we deal with today is stripping us of our life. Spending so much time taking countless numbers of pictures has left us cherishing the screen on our cell phone instead of what is actually happening in the moment.