We all want to create memories.  We want pictures to look back on things we've done, people we've been with, places we've gone.  Now we all have a camera in our hard 24/7.  It's cool because you can literally take a picture of anything, anytime, anywhere.  I love photography and I'm not going to say that cell phone pictures are or aren't art, that's a debate for another time.  What I do want to say is that maybe it's time we put the phone down.  We create memories by experiencing something, by being with others, by feeling.  By separating ourselves, by putting a lens between us and our experiences, we are taking snapshots of our lives rather than living them.  I'm not saying don't ever take pictures.  You want a picture of you and your friends at the base of a mountain, take one.  You want a picture of you and your lover on a night out, take one.  You want to photograph your food, go right ahead.  Don't forget to take in the experience though.

Now, let's talk about selfies.  Honestly, whatever you want to call it, people have been taking pictures of themselves since the invention of the camera, they were just called self portraits.  As a society though, we have become obsessed with getting the perfect selfie.  So obsessed in fact that it's killing us.  We want to photograph ourselves doing "cool" things. 'Hey (I say to myself), I'm on the top of this cliff and if I just lean over a little bit you'll be able to tell (in the picture I'm about to take of myself) that I'm up really high!'  Guess what, if you lean over "a little bit," you fall off the cliff and you're dead.  'Hey, there's a train coming and if  I stand on the tracks for just one second, it'll be a really cool picture!'  Guess what?  That train was going faster than you thought it was, and yeah, you're dead.  How about the people that strive to take the perfect selfie?  They want to be perfect and when they can't be perfect they want to change themselves to be perfect.  Perfect doesn't exist, the perfect selfie doesn't exist, now you feel bad about yourself.  That feeling of imperfection grows and grows and grows until you can't take it anymore and you want to end the struggle.

Now, let's combine these two phenomena.  We always want to create pictures of our memories rather than experiencing them, and we are on a constant look out for the next best selfie.  You're at the beach.  You see dolphins in the distance.  Cool!  Let's grab our camera!  Look how fast that little one is!  Oh, it's baby!  I'm just going to pick it up (out of it's natural habitat where it belongs) and take a picture with it.  Instead of putting it back in the water when the picture is done pass it along to the next person, and the next, and the next.  Ya know what, dolphins live in the water.  No, they don't breathe in the water, but they belong there.  Their skin is made for them to survive in the water, not on land.  So now.... you've yanked a beautiful, sensitive, intelligent creature out of its home, passed it around like a trophy, and now... it's dead.  It's almost worse than hunting because it's caused by stupidity and thoughtlessness rather than intention.

Live your moments, create a memory not just a picture, and think about the consequences of your actions.

https://www.thedodo.com/baby-dolphin-dies-for-photos-1607782616.html