Day 48: February 17th

Waning Winter at the Dog Park

I wish I had said it first, but this is a phrase I'm hearing and seeing all over the internet: camera phones are the new Polaroid cameras.  Ok, I'll bite.  I can see the point.  Portable, easy to use, instant capture, low tech.  And, of course, ubiquitous, just like the Polaroid was in its heyday.  That's a pretty good case for saying that camera phones are the new Polaroid, except that this is like saying gray is the new black.  It's harmless, but it is also thoughtless, trendy, and undervalues the unique contribution of both technologies and what they mean to their respective eras.  Nothing, in my opinion, will ever replace the Polaroid!  Some fantastic work is still being produced using them.  Search Flickr and you'll see what I mean.

In my opinion, though, and in my observation of camera phone images, I believe they do, like the Polaroid, serve the excellent purpose of documenting the world as it's happening.  They are creating what will be the future retrospective on this time.  One day we'll be looking back at these quirky blue-gray soft-focused vignettes of every day life.  Other people's feet in a city crosswalk, the pierced tongues of our friends (well, not my friends, precisely), and of course, the towering view of our own shadows on the pavement.  The things we see everyday captured for all eternity (nothing posted ever really dies).  What will we believe about the past when these become our evidence of it?  Maybe, just like every generation that has gone before, we'll remember the sky as being brighter and our friends as being more attractive.  

Note: Of course, I realize very few people care about the distinction between camera phones and Polaroids like I do.  And, of course I realize that it would be a waste of time for more than a handful of people to even think about it.  But somebody has to, so here I am.