The oversharing of vacation photos

Quick show of hands whoever has flipped through somebody's set of 60 vacation photos, unless it's your ex-gf/wife and you want to see how she looks now in a bathing suit.

 

Social media makes us competitive for experiences.

All that said, if you want the sharing to stop, if you really want to, you just write in the comments section “beautiful. Wow. You take so many trips. How do you afford it? I wish I were as rich as you. Did your parents leave you a lot of money or do you just make a lot?”

 

It really is the new materialism.

 

I stopped Facebook 8 years ago and have never regretted it. What started as a curiosity became a driving force.

I just don't get the food pictures; "who needs to know what anyone else ate?" (All I can to avoid eye roll when my sister/BIL says "wait" and snaps photo of family dinner.

 

Yes. And as a strident anti-materialist, I share absolutely nothing.

I purposely ask people what they did last weekend damn well knowing they posted it on FB. And then I listen. Sometimes it unnerves the shit out of them, because, see they’d already processed that experience emotionally when they posted it. They’re on to a new experience. It stresses them out.

Social media has absolutely made people more introverted and less friendly. Especially men. You can’t pull a damn thing out of some guys.

 

Along these lines, from a recent interview with an entrepreneur* who had invested in a company that runs these sorts of trips in part for this very reason. Sad that people take vacations to boost their own "brand" on social media. (Although I also found it particularly amusing since I know someone very status obsessed--albeit also rich--who just took such a trip.)

Full transcript: Investor and owner of the Washington City Paper Mark Ein on Recode Decode

* Who, btw, recently acquired Washington City Paper.

 

Wife views vacations as days spent away from her animals and projects. I view them as a poor value relative to what else I could do with the money that would bring longer-lasting joy (vacation or piano?). Facebook probably thinks we're hermits.

 

I like vacations where I can actually do things like ski or hike. I’m not a passive traveler or tourist.

 

I don't know if this is different now due to social media, but it seems to be: People seem to approach travel these days - and experiences generally - as something to collect, rather than as something to engage with. I mentioned taking active vacations. I don't mean that every getaway needs to be four days and nights of doing one's best Bear Grylls impersonation. But using skiing as an example, I feel like people ski now (or eat at a particular restaurant or swim with the dolphins) not to ski, but to have skiied, if that makes sense.

My dad and I probably went to four or five White Sox games a year when I was growing up. I think I have two grainy photos from all of those games. Two. In the 2010s, my family takes a photo every time we go to the ballpark, as a matter of course. And it's like we didn't even decide to do that. It's just what you do in 2018. And it's weird.

Two other things that have transformed the way people approach and engage with travel:

• The prominence of "bucket lists." You aren't just going to San Francisco or Athens or Fenway Park any more to purely experience it. You're going there to check a box off a list, practically like collecting baseball cards.
• The prominence of camera phones. Take the social media equation out of it. I think people would still have changed their approach to travel, because cameras are omnipresent now, and user-friendly. I remember on our honeymoon griping about having to stop what we were doing and take photos. (This was 2005.) And I'm sure the number of shots she was asking to take was a fraction of what people take today when they go to a run-of-the-mill dinner out, let alone a milestone life trip. The idea of taking a photo of our food in 2005 would not have occurred to us. Imagine going to a luau now and not snap, snap, snapping away. It's practically laughable. Even around the house, Mrs. Whitman frequently wants me to "take a video." And I nearly always protest, because I would rather just experience the moment.

I also realize it's none of my business how other people choose to enjoy themselves. But I'm not bothered that people don't enjoy things the same way as me. I am bothered if they aren't enjoying things as much as they otherwise would or could.

 

Good thing it doesn't bother you. Six pages later, I mean ...

 

One of the weird effects of social media is that it can change your perception of your own experiences. If lots of people "like" something, that makes it more likely for you to think that it's good. And vice-versa. When in fact the feelings of others should have nothing to do with how you feel about your own life. If you enjoyed an experience, then awesome. It shouldn't matter what anyone else thinks. That goes for a vacation you took or a meal you ate or a story you wrote. Are you happy with it? Then don't let anyone convince you otherwise.

Took me a long time to realize that.

 

It's just interesting.

It's not something I would, say, follow people from thread to thread about or dig up personal information about them.