Shemaiah Gonzalez’s children were in a performance after a week of theater camp. She writes:
I arrived early and got a seat on aisle so I’d be sure to see both children wherever they happened to be on the stage. When performance time came I was taken aback when every single adult in the audience stood up, took out their phones and began filming the performance. There was no way I could see through the barrage of phones and iPads. I found it strange that I was the only person who was actually watching the performance, not the screen, but couldn’t see it.
Whether it’s a child’s performance, a vacation trip, or a birthday party, are we watching these events through a camera, often missing the details of the moment, or allowing ourselves to be completely present to the experience at hand?
Sometimes, my walk with the Lord, makes first hand not all that wanted. A camera view of life means not getting involved; Church ritual verses action of the person; Some time those who seek feel very alone and have a faint hope that there is someone they can communicate with
I remember when my oldest child started school and I was very intent on “capturing the moment” by taking pictures (before camera phones) I came to realize that I did not really “see” it. So I put the camera down and was present and I found I took more in and thoroughly enjoyed the performance.