A Blessing or A Curse?

Over the past five years, the popularity of cell phones has skyrocketed. There are few people, especially teenagers, who do not have their phone on their person at all times. Although when they were first developed the highlight of the cell phone was the ability to be able to call someone while you were on the go, cell phones can do much more than that now. In fact, most people use their cell phones more for other things, such as texting, taking pictures, instant messaging, and e-mailing, than they do for calling people. Video cameras in cell phones have become increasingly popular as websites such as YouTube have become more prominent. Since these sites allow ordinary people to become potentially well-known "directors" of the next viral video, many more young adults have begun to video tape even the most ordinary and mundane aspects of life, hoping for something funny or amazing to happen. In addition to YouTube, social networking sites like Facebook allow users to upload videos to their profiles directly from cell phones, allowing friends to share videos almost instantly and reminisce about past events together. The desire to be able to re-live and re-experience the past has taken on a heightened appeal to the younger generation as the recording devices necessary for this have become more readily available.

I'm probably one of the best examples of this phenomenon that is occurring among todays teenage population. I own a bunch of different things I use to record random moments: my FlipCam (probably the best Christmas present I've ever gotten), my digital camera (which lately I've used more to record things than to take pictures), and my family's Sony Handycam (my mom recently told me that she forgot that we even had one, since I use it so much that she rarely sees it around the house). And on the rare occasion that one of those devices is not on me, I know I can always turn to my cell phone's video camera. For the most part, I use these devices to record ordinary happenings in my life, things that may not seem significant at the time but later on become cherished memories. My friends and I enjoy the ability to re-watch clips of concerts that we all went to together or a hilariously bad song that we sang during karaoke, and I am extremely thankful that the technology exists that allows us to do this. I've wondered sometimes why we find it so important to get everything on video, to not miss a moment. Are we afraid of forgetting the things that made us happy? But if they made us happy, how would we forget them? Or do we just like the fact that we CAN record everything?

Video cameras in cell phones also open the gateway for less benign events to be recorded, however. Unfortunately, some people take advantage of this wonderful technology and record things that should not be recorded (or even happening in the first place); things that could (and very often do) get them in a lot of trouble. When these events occur, many valid questions arise. Why would someone think of videotaping something that could get them in trouble? Did they do it to show off? Would this have happened if this technology was harder to get your hands on?

Just like the photograph was a revolutionary way of retaining memories when it was first developed, the video camera has changed the way people re-live the past. It allows ordinary people to more vividly remember things that have happened some time ago. Producers must be aware of this desire to hold on to memories, otherwise they would not have even thought of the possibility of including this device in a cell phone. They also must assume that people will want to use this device on a daily basis, since it is now a standard part of almost every cell phone.