It’s true. I’ve been working on my ability to be present. It helps to remind myself that there is no way to fully capture a live experience. You can take a picture or video, but that record is a record. There is no duplicating the present moment.
I think this earnest surge of sentiment towards “being present” has points but is actually based on nostalgia. The fact is that we are going towards mobile blogging and sharing because it is truly beneficial to humanity.
Think about how vastly we can augment our intelligence and capabilities by being plugged into what is happening around us on a hyper-current level? How much more can we experience through others sharing? Yes a picture of a concert doesnt give me the entire experience of being at said concert, but it is certainly more robust than not even seeing that picture. Is having countless mini-experiences through rss and social feeds more enlightening than one physical encounter in meatspace?
From a certain perspective one can state with some sincerity that social network users are taking part in something bigger than themselves.
Those who mobile log and share at the sacrifice of their current experience are participating in a global conversation. We are through our tumble and flickr feeds, exploring the world on a level we could never match in reality. Through the cumulative power of social sharing we all experience something more powerful than the experiences we can have in the physical realm.
