Electronic eye syndrome

It is impossible to caption your life and live it at the same time.

I spent the last week of the year relaxing. I stayed away from social media most of the time.

Anyway, I took a few days off to just be present in my life, without any pressure to write anything down or share anything.

Just to live in the moment and keep good memories in my mind.

This photo is one of the few that I took.

I love this beach, and I liked this welcoming sign. When I saw it there, it appeared to be welcoming the new year.

One day, I was visiting Prague Castle, and someone in the group kept stopping to take pictures. This situation forced the guide to constantly interrupt the explanations. Anyway, the person was traveling on her own, and we all felt that the report was important to her.

We then began a discussion about this sort of obsession with taking photographs.

The guide mentioned a text by Umberto Eco about the subject.

Eco’s article talks about “electronic eye syndrome”. He defines it as the desire to be present with a mechanical eye instead of a brain.

The essay reflects on the compulsion to photograph and film everything and how this can distract from fully experiencing those events.

Eco thinks that people are too focused on keeping memories on their phones, and they’re losing the ability to appreciate and keep them in their minds.

Sometimes, it’s essential to keep a record of the moment.

It is usually more important to live it.

💙Happy 2024 🤗.

P.S. Bem-vindos=welcome.

P.S. 2 Umberto Eco’s essay “Syndrome of the Electronic Eye” was not published in a formal journal or book. However, you can find the essay here.