Birthday party? Snap. Vacation in Italy? Snap. Taylor Swift concert? Snap. College campus tour? Snap.

For generations, photography focused on singular images’ potential to spark imagination an encourage interpretation. With the rise of smartphones, however, it has become a way to document every aspect of one’s daily life and curate a public image. Everyone is able to share specific pictures and snippets of their lives with a larger audience, creating a public persona that conceals less appealing aspects of their lives. Like false information, curated images of people’s “perfect” lives spread quickly on the internet. Therefore, to the wider community, excessive photography can lead to harmful self-comparison and inhibit one’s ability to create memories. People should take photos carefully and artfully to truly treasure and capture moments.

Some argue that frequent photos provide visuals for people to reminiscence on. For example, parents often take pictures to record their children’s early years. However, if they focus solely on filming everything, they cannot fully absorb the moment. Pulling out one’s phone entails pulling away from reality, and thus missing out on the experience.

Researchers have also found that taking too many pictures affects a person’s ability to create and store memories. University of California, Irvine psychological science professor Elizabeth Loftus has conducted studies showing that excessive photograpy undermines people’s memory.

At Fairfield University, psychology professor Linda Henkel found similar results in a 2014 experiment involving undergraduate college students. Henkel took the students to the university’s Bellarmine Museum of Art and asked them to take photos of certain objects while solely observing others. The next day, students were asked to recall attributes of the objects that they had seen. The study found that taking pictures decreased a person’s ability to remember details because they became reliant on their cameras. This lack of elaborate and emotional processing hurt their memory retention.

Rather than relying on a picture to capture memories, students should take in their surroundings and absorb the details of emotion and sensation. Yes, perhaps take a few pictures with friends from camp whom you’ll never see again, but don’t forget that every second passed is a second lost. Take pictures with special meaning to reclaim the intimate art of photography.

Images are one of the first things children learn to recognize. According to a 2019 study led by psychologist Dr. Joel Pearson from the National Institutes of Health, many individuals form pictorial representations in their brain to recreate something from memory. Because imagery is integral to human function, it’s more beneficial to take photos than to avoid it.

People use photography to document crucial moments and share their memories with others. Taking photos encourages engagement among individuals and can strengthen relationships by providing an access point for human connection and creating shared knowledge. For instance, many people use photos to update distant friends or relatives about their lives.

When posing for a picture, it’s customary to smile or put on a cheerful expression, and according to Stanford University research scientist Dr. Nicholas Coles, even faking a smile can improve a person’s mood: The brain links the action of smiling with optimism, triggering a sense of happiness.

Alongside posing in photos, viewing photos can also boost people’s moods. Behavioral psychologist Jo Hemmings led a 2020 study for photo company CEWE to learn how viewing photos impacts individuals’ mood. The study showed that these pictures triggered emotions such as delight and happiness, promoting a sense of well-being and providing increased personal welfare.

While many feel that taking pictures distracts from being in the moment, in reality, it simply provides the photographer with a greater appreciation for detail. Many things go unnoticed in a typical setting, but when a camera is out, people often analyze the smaller things, which contributes to an enhanced understanding of their environment.

Although some associate taking photos with a toxic sense of comparison to others, this isn’t always the case. Social media promotes those ideals and negative mindsets, not the photos themselves, which can be used to appreciate the beauty of a subject. Instead of viewing photos as a distraction or detriment, individuals should value them for their ability to help connect family and friends and make both photographers and viewers happy. Photography provides opportunities for interaction, bringing people together with a simple click.