After covering numerous events around the county, I’ve noticed the prevalence of cell phones more and more at events.
It goes from fans in the stands taking selfies to going live on Facebook or Twitter to show their favorite song at a concert or trying to show the final play of the game from their seat in the stands.
I have to admit, I catch myself doing that from time to time. Instead of paying attention to the moment, I’m trying to post something about it, take a video or sometimes not even paying attention to what’s going on while I’m having a virtual conversation with someone else about something not related to the event.
Some of that is my attempts to report on a game in progress. If you follow me on Twitter at @bmaze during a football game, you’ll see frequent updates about scoring plays, time remaining in the game and stuff like that. I rarely do play-by-play except when the game is on the line in the final two minutes.
When I do this, I admit sometimes I lose the immediacy of the moment. I feel a little disconnected to reality that’s going on around me and focus more on how many people are retweeting my posts and such.
But when I am attending an event for the fun of it, I try not to do the same thing, mainly because I want to sit back and enjoy the event going on around me. Sure, I might post a photo of where I am before the event starts, but after the game or concert gets going, I’m trying to enjoy what’s going on.
Do photos and videos for as long as I have, if you don’t have a good lens or you aren’t close to the action, a live video or a photo just doesn’t do the moment justice. If you’re trying to record music of your favorite band, it won’t sound good.
I know you want to share that with your friends, but there’s no way to replicate it without being there.
And when you do stuff like that, you might actually miss the best part of the show. So here’s my advice: Put the phone down, sit back and have fun.
Brent can be reached at bmaze@newtoncountyappeal.com.
