The advent of mobile phones has blurred the boundary between here and there, leading to the paradox of “present absence,” where people are more focused on their phones than their surroundings: Physically here, mentally there.

The possibility to create vast amounts of images with little effort comes at the expense of the ability to have genuine experiences. The tenacious attempt to capture every moment in pictures impairs the other senses. Focused on photographing, we ignore how the moment feels, smells, or sounds: Recording instead of experiencing.  It seems quite ironic that the relentless effort to capture every moment in images comes at the cost of the ability to experience the very moment we’re trying to capture.

Mobile phones have increased both independence and isolation.