I’ve continually wanted to fly a sky lantern. When I traveled to Bangladesh last 12 months, I told my cousins that the first thing I’d do after I was given there was flying a sky lantern from the terrace of our building — and that’s precisely what I did. We whipped out our telephones and cameras the moment the lantern became lit, unwilling to miss even a 2d of this perfect Instagram opportunity.
But once I scrolled through my phone, I came up empty, and I’m pretty embarrassed to confess I became pretty upset approximately it. Why didn’t my cousin get an excellent picture of me holding the lantern? Where change their eye for angles? Ridiculous and superficial, I understand. But as someone who fills her IG with bookstagrams, it’s almost ingrained in me to prioritize tips for foremost lighting — and it wasn’t until that overly emotional moment that I found out it’s k now not to get the reveal on camera.
What mattered became I witnessed that enjoy, cheering because the lantern was given swept up by using the wind and flew higher and better until it became a blip inside the night sky, with none mind of likes and stocks.
The common phrase — “images or it didn’t happen” — is what propels lots of us into documenting all moments of our lives for social media. That, in flip, ends in a competition of sorts amongst pals, own family, and pals.
Who can craft the most resentful life for themselves?
So when I climbed the excavated mounds of Mahasthangarh, one of the highest geographic regions in Bangladesh and one of the earliest archaeological sites inside you. S, I avoided the selfies I was nearly dragged into. I selected instead to study the history behind the museum’s artifacts, appreciate the rolling hills and meticulously saved gardens, and try and systematize the overpowering truth that I stood at the remains of a temple dating back to three hundred BCE.
Before I rode on a motorized rickshaw through the rural components of you. S. A ., I purposely left all my electronics at domestic, selecting to appearance up, for once, on the flower fields and implementing trees littering our route.
I traveled to Rome one fall, and while my telephone died one night, it changed into a blessing in disguise. I’d been given a reprieve from the pressure to log my whereabouts, put up all of the amusing matters I did, or scroll through different human feeds to see all of the laugh things they did. Instead, I strolled along the cobbled streets and winding alleyways of Trastevere, and in the end, was capable of enjoying the nightlife.
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I became more aware of the contagious laughter reverberating from the cafés and pubs, of the happy applause for diverse street performers, than I was of my dead cellphone.
I didn’t have an Instagram or Snapchat account after I started traveling in Europe some years in the past. I found into surrounded by people who recorded tales as quickly as they arrived at a new area, earlier than they might even have fully processed where they were, and it became a bit jarring for me to witness from the outside. Sure, I took photographs properly along with them on my camera, but now not with the same urgency. I wasn’t relying on social media to validate my experience. I wasn’t concerned about impressing my followers.
Please don’t get me wrong. I like social media adequately enough, and I apprehend the attraction of using it as a travel diary — I did it too. But I’ve come to remember the fact that, for me, traveling is more of a laugh while not having to worry approximately upping my selfie game. I’m keen on cataloging picturesque sunsets in my mental Rolodex earlier than I turn on my camera. I’m now extra focused on bonding with those around me and engaging with my surroundings. I needed to prevent seeking to garner viewership and likes on virtual structures.
Social media could us hold connections and lift focus approximately problems, but it diluted the revel in of the journey for me. It got inside the way of exploring new parts of us of a and the world.
I was left disappointed. While I refreshed my feed so I ought to give my fans essential FOMO, I unknowingly ignored what was in front of me. It’s easy to wander away within the throes of the digital age, mainly while we’re increasingly reliant on technology. It’s hard to allow it to move without feeling a phantom telephone in your hand.
But it’s worth it. Pics or no pictures, it passed off. And it’s k if I’m the best person who noticed it.
