A few years ago I started using my mom’s old digital camera to take cuter, more quality, pictures. The world was rushing by, and I hated the way all the pictures on my phone came out. But my memory was terrible and I wanted to remember my last year in high school more than any other.Â
My digi cam was my solution. I loved the aesthetics of just using it, the sharper quality, clicking all the physical buttons. But I came to realize, going into college, the underlying reason for my love.Â
Everything’s so digital. Classwork, homework, communication, ordering food, entertainment of various forms. It gets tiring after a while, eyes constantly glued to a screen for hours on end. I just needed more of a break, more time for hobbies like reading a physical book or crocheting.
Despite a digi cam being a digital camera with a screen, it somehow felt so different and so disconnected from everything else. There’s no instagram trying to tempt me with consistent notifications, no reminder of school work, nothing but my surroundings. Unfortunately that freedom from distractions ends the moment I want to save, edit, and post my photos.Â
My pretty pictures end up trapped, like me, on my phone and my computer. Only the cutest and most acceptable making it to instagram to see the artificial light of day, in the app I’ve been trying to spend less time on. I was feeling very dissatisfied, until I remembered something.
On my desk is a spiral mini photo album. Like a flipbook for photos. I printed a few of my favorites, or just straight up took some from an older family photo album. This flipbook doubles as a decoration, standing up on my desk. I took it to my dorm freshman year, and it came back home with me as a commuter student.Â
Anytime I need a short break from school work (my computer), instead of scrolling on my phone I’d flip through my photos and pick a new one to display. I really enjoyed having the enlarged (compared to my phone) and physical versions of my pictures at my disposal. My eyes thanked me, and I got small reminders of why I was bending over backwards to understand a new concept for class.
So I got a little idea, and over winter break, I worked on a scrapbook of my senior year of high school (when I first started using my digi cam). First of all, I was saved from doomscrolling and double screening as I caught up on all the shows I wanted to watch. Second, I’ve never had so much fun reminiscing. Photos too personal for Instagram but too good to delete finally made it to the light of day. Surrounded by cute stickers and small blurbs of explanation, basically a very personalized yearbook. Something I could display for family and friends during functions and events.Â
It’s a bit of an ambitious process, one I take joy in as I come closer to finishing it. But I seriously can’t wait to make zines and other mini scrapbooks/albums with my more recent photos.Â
There are so many digital versions of this project I could have done that are definitely easier, probably cheaper and less time consuming. But worth it? Taking a much needed break from my screen to create something rather than consume feels much more worth the effort and time to me.