In this day and age, our phones are practically tied to our hands. I’m no different, and I don’t think it’s our fault—what else are we supposed to do when we have access to magical boxes with all the information in the world? Not only do they have search engines, but they give us the ability to be contacted at any time, and now we’re greedy for updates. Even though no other generation in history has been able to instantaneously contact and be contacted about other parts of their life while they’re busy, we fear going out without our phones because…what if there’s an emergency? Most importantly, our phones allow us to capture any moment in front of us and immortalize it forever, often giving us a feeling of stress if we don’t.
This has deeply affected the experience of seeing live music. There are of course local venues small and artists to see where people aren’t recording, but any well-known artist will have tons of people in the crowd filming some (and sometimes all) of the show. Personally, I have an underlying feeling of stress when I’m at concerts, because I’m always making a decision about what I should record to rewatch later, and what to “live in the moment” for. Also because I’m trying to decide I’ve taken a good enough picture to post on Instagram. The interesting thing is that I never go back and rewatch concert videos for one reason or another (often I am singing along quite loudly in the background) and I think a lot of people relate to that.Â
I went to a concert at the Barclays Center last weekend and there were no phones allowed. They put them in those little locked pouches when you walked into the venue. There were some wonderful things that came out of a no-tech experience:
- Going in, the mystery of the actual show was so exciting. Nobody from previous shows could capture it, so we didn’t know what the visuals looked like at all beforehand and experiencing it live was mind blowing.
- Not to sound like a nostalgic boomer, but while buying merch or strolling around in the pre-show hours, every single person was in conversation with their friends or people-watching and it was awesome.
- Even though we didn’t know if there was an emergency going on outside, this turned out to be an incredibly freeing feeling. It was like we were in our own little bubble of reality where nothing could harm us.
- I was in the nosebleeds, but watching the people at the barricade interacting with the artist (without filming right into her face) was amazing. You could tell both parties were so happy.
- Looking around at the arena of people from my spot, I saw 20,000 faces and 40,000 hands waving. This group was present in a way I had never experienced before. It was magical to have no stress about capturing the moment other than soaking it in with my own eyes, and watch every other person feel the exact same way.
I describe all this not to shame us for wanting to use our phones, but instead to spark interest in that forgotten thrill of being entirely present in a giant group. If this sounds like something you’d enjoy, maybe your friend group will start having no-phone events, or you’ll try leaving it at home when you really don’t need it! It might be a great way to let go of some of our Gen Z anxiety and live more in the moment, a little bit at a time.