Between photo dumps, archived stories and videos of every single moment, documenting life seems to have become just as important as actually living it.
We are constantly recording videos and taking photos, as if experiences would disappear and be forgotten quickly. As if we couldn’t hold certain scenes in our memory and needed an external one, whether in our camera roll or on social media.
The famous “monthly dumps” are proof that we need records of everything that happens in our lives, that we can’t let a small moment go undocumented .Is it only because we want our dumps to look good, or are we actually letting go of trust in our memories?
After a few years or even a few months, these records feel so nostalgic, as if we were going back in time. Trips we dreamed of taking, but that only lasted a few days, are saved forever. Long after we’ve already returned home, we feel back in a special place when we revisit those memories.
Are we living or just documenting?
When we go to a restaurant with a beautiful setting, the perfect drink, flawless food, the phrase “the phone eats first” comes to mind. We grab our phones and capture that experience, whether with a video or a photo that will be posted on Instagram later, as proof that we were there.
The same thing happens at concerts and festivals. There are records of every second of what happens there: the opening, the favorite chorus, the fireworks, the artist’s speech. Each song is saved on the audience’s phones, as if that moment wouldn’t be worth as much if it wasn’t documented.
In many cases, the concern with recording is so great that we end up watching the show through our own phone screen. The concert happens right in front of us, but it seems like we are more worried about keeping proof that we were there. Maybe that’s why, today, simply remembering no longer feels like enough.
Memories vs camera roll
Nowadays we don’t know the difference between remembering and rewatching, being guided by the thought: “where’s the fun in just remembering when we can see photos and videos in our gallery?”
With so many images stored, remembering has stopped being just a mental exercise. Now, we relive experiences through our phone’s camera, archived stories and the “memories” that social media insists on showing us every day.
There is something comforting about looking back at old records. A blurry photo of friends, a shaky concert video or even random images from an ordinary day can transport us to past versions of ourselves. Small details that might have already been forgotten are still alive in the camera roll.
But at the same time, maybe we are losing trust in our own memory. We believe that everything needs to be documented to matter, which makes it hard to simply accept that some experiences only exist in the present. Maybe living the moment should also be enough.
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The article above was edited and translated by Ana Beatriz Carvalho Sapata.
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