Last year alone, according to Priceonomics, more people died from selfie-related deaths than by shark attacks. Death by selfie statistics is astronomical! Amazing. In 2014 again according to Priceonomics, forty-nine people died from selfie-related deaths. Forty-nine! And seventy-five percent of those deaths were males. The average age being twenty-one and the youngest being fourteen. Fourteen! **Shudders** My number three is twelve!
We are so preoccupied about documenting our existence and the fact we "arrived" that we're killing ourselves literally.
I learned a long time ago when my number one was an infant to live in the moment. Yes, taking pictures are essential for documenting milestones and events but the day to day existence of relying on technology to build our memories is skyrocketing.
Once I realized I was more consumed with getting the perfect shot, the perfect angle, the perfect light I had my first parental lightbulb moment...the beginning of many...I missed so much in those moments of obtaining perfection. I missed her giggle, the perfect smile she focused on me, her little, chubby outstretched hands wanting me to pick her up. I missed the moment of tender love between a mother and an infant in my quest for the perfectly captured moment. Seeing my discomfort, my husband gladly accepted the role of photographer.
But my husband had his own lightbulb moment this past summer. While on vacation with our family, my husband rushed up the beach to photograph our daughters and our niece on horseback at sunset. It was a truly beautiful sunset, one I'll never forget and the squeals of delight and smiles on their faces was amazing. Again an image I'll never forget. Returning to me breathless, he showed me the pictures and mentioned how he felt he missed the entire time. He said he was so busy looking through a narrow hole that he couldn't remember exactly how they looked and vaguely remembered their laughter. My husband said he felt he "missed the moment" trying to capture it for posterity. Narrowing his eyes he asked me if that was the reason I was upset at picture time. I winked with a big grin and said absolutely not. I told him he was simply the better photographer!
