Ways digital photos have lost meaning

     In today’s day and age it’s easy to snap hundreds of photos without even fully thinking about it. People will now look at a photo, decide they don’t look good enough, then quickly delete it. Pictures are no longer taken to capture the moment and keep as a memory, they’re taken to be posted to social media for likes and instant gratification. People’s appearances in photos are edited so heavily that the individuals pictured are almost unrecognizable. If a photo doesn’t get a satisfactory amount of attention or likes it is deemed as “not good enough” or “not instagram-worthy”.

     It is difficult to find teenagers truly living in the moment nowadays. The original point of photos was having something physical to bring you back to that moment. They are now being stripped of their meaning as time progresses. Photos are cheap, convenient, easy and require little effort. Sadly, most digital photos will not be around in a few years. Many get deleted to make room for more. These digital images aren’t important enough to be converted to printed form. The photos will never transition into the physical world or become a collectible memory. Printed media holds a special quality that can only be attributed to a physical object.

     This is the most photographed generation, yet we will end up with the least amount of printed, real meaningful photos.