Artifacts of our Culture (Week 6)

This semester I will be posting my thoughts every week on some media I've consumed. This is a semester-long project for my SFL 358 class: Media and Family Development. 

Image: Jim Peaco Yellowstone National Park

I spent this past weekend in Yellowstone, and it was amazing. While my friend and I went to watch Old Faithful, we noticed that hundreds of people had their phones out and were watching the geyser through their screens. This became a running joke, and later in the day while we were talking about the Yellowstone volcano she said "imagine if the Yellowstone caldera erupted, and people were covered in ash like  in Pompeii. Archeologists would come and see hundreds of people with phones stuck in their hands". While we both thought this was really funny, albeit morbid, I wonder what we miss while we are behind a screen. The only reason I didn't have my phone out taking pictures was because I didn't want to take my hands out of my gloves (it was super cold). I love taking pictures, but I can't see the value when it comes with the cost of always being behind a screen, and missing out on seeing a once in a lifetime event with your own eyes. Especially when photos of Old Faithful taken by trained professionals are so accessible. I feel like one of the lies of our culture is that we have to share the fun/awesome/adventurous things we do on social media. I know I've been guilty of this. But a trip to Yellowstone or whatever else you do has value whether it ends up on your social media or not.