At a conference on June 14, Facebook executive Nicola Mendelssohn predicted that the social networking site would be “all video” within five years.
“We’re seeing a year-on-year decline of text,” she said. “If I was having a bet, I'd say: video, video, video.”
Meanwhile, a recent article in The New York Times chronicled the lives of a group of young socialites—the “Snap Pack”—who plan their nights around snapping photos that can be shared with their followers. The reporter explained:
“For them, taking photos and videos from Instagram and Snapchat is not a way to memorialize a night out. It’s the night’s main event.”
These two stories each arrive at the same conclusion: Images are taking over.
Increasingly, images have become a crucial part of communicating with others, receiving affirmation and documenting new experiences. And though it may seem that a barrage of colors and pixels and faces and scenery could only enrich our imaginations and enhance our engagement with the world, the opposite seems to be taking place.
In her article “Instagram Is Ruining Vacation,” journalist Mary Pilon described how, when visiting a temple in Cambodia, a sea of tourists became so preoccupied with capturing the perfect, shareable picture that, ironically, “no one was really present.”
Indeed, the compulsive urge to immediately, electronically exhibit one’s self is a phenomenon made uniquely possible by our digital age. Yes, there are benefits to being able to share more images with a greater audience. But the impulse to incessantly document and post has taken precedent over simple focus and direct human connection.
While it can be difficult to neatly measure this shift, researchers across a variety of disciplines are beginning to see and understand its consequences.
Life in a Self-Reflective Bubble
