Why Do We Feel the Need to Document Everything? Exploring Our Obsession with Recording
The Meaning of it All
It’s 2023 and almost everyone with a smartphone also has a high-resolution camera built-in. We carry this image-making device with us at all times. We snap photos and videos of our daily lives. Everyday while I’m out and about, I’ll record something. A golden sunset, a wild animal, a selfie, architecture, landscapes, and so on. It seems I rarely go 24 hours without snapping a photo or video of some sort. I began to wonder why is this? Why can’t I just go a day without pressing the shutter button? My excessive accumulation of photos and videos began to burden me.
I’ve loved photography since I was a teenager. My parents recorded many home videos of my siblings and I. Cherished family moments were documented. Revisiting them was like opening a treasure chest. I’m grateful of these visual records that showed our youth and growth.
Film and cinema had a big influence on me. I love the emotion conveyed by story on video. For more than a decade I worked as a freelance filmmaker and photographer. I recorded a wide range of genres, therefore collecting tens of thousands of images — both still and moving. Eventually I felt I was drowning under them and so I obliterated a large portion. This was difficult but in some ways set me free.
On a different note, what about the everyday smartphone photographer? The social media star. The photos-of-food-before-eating type. What’s the reason we feel compelled to capture? Is simply enjoying without recording even possible anymore? If it wasn’t recorded, did it really even happen? These days, it doesn’t seem like it.
Image capture and distribution have drastically changed ever since the social media boom. Like it or not, many of us have became obsessed with sharing our lives on the web. About 86 million images are uploaded to instagram every day. We want to show others what we’re up to. We want to be seen. We want to connect. Perhaps it helps us feel less lonely; as if someone is there to see us thrive, grow and accomplish. We don’t feel as if we’re invisible.
Our experiences need to be witnessed by other people, by friends or a loved one. It makes them more fulfilling. It could be that’s why fame is so desirable. Famous people have an audience gazing at them living their lives. It may feel more special when we know someone is observing us living to the fullest.
Let’s say for example that I jump a motorbike across a massive canyon and land safely on the other side. Yet there is no recording and no one was there to see it. In the end no one will really care, it would only be something that happened to one person and them alone, in their own mind and body. It is not shareable, it is private. Even if you tell the story, people will always want to see it with their own eyes. “You have to see it to believe it.”
Now if the same action was recorded and shared. Then other people can view it and say “Wow did you see that amazing motorbike canyon jump?!” It’s spread, it’s valued, it’s tangible. This is why we record — to have a grasp on what happened.
I’ve gathered a list of other possibilities as to why we so often raise the camera and press record:
- Eternalizing a moment
- Keeping something of importance
- To chronicle our lives
- Sharing memories with friends and family
- Portrait our successes and achievements
- To teach
- Telling a story
- To amaze and inspire
- Boredom
- Selling the recorded media
- Showing ourselves for attention
- To impress others
- Validation from others
- Building our social following
- Improving our self confidence
- Keeping a record of age
- Documenting relationships
- To promote or market
- Sensationalizing an event
- Spreading information or misinformation
- Evidential purposes
- Making once in a lifetime last forever
I’ve realized that often when I’ll record something, it wont be of any use to me and I’ll rarely ever actually revisit it again. Perhaps only to share it with people during a meal conversation or the occasional self-reflection. These moments are rather fleeting.
As you can see, there are dozens of reasons why the camera is one of the most important, useful and addictive tools ever created. It can be utilized for good or evil. It can capture beauty or horror. That was a bit dramatic but also true. It can reveal secrets, help discover what was once misunderstood, and keep a record of human existence. In addition its very useful for sharing adorable cat pictures, creating hilarious memes and recording our best friends being silly.
If I’ve missed anything, feel free to add it in the comments!
