The inconvenience of camera phones

LONDON, England – There’s a time and a place for shooting pictures and video on your phone and, according to UK Media Pioneer and BBC broadcaster, Chris Evans, a Led Zeppelin concert isn’t one of them.

“I swear, when we went to see Led Zep, literally thousands of the crowd watched the whole gig through their mobile phones”.

And he’s not alone either. Reading through the comments on his blog post it’s easy to see how many of Evan’s fans feel the same way – very few seem to disagree.

Clodagh recommends

“So leave the phones at home, chaps. Open your eyes and absorb it properly, the memory will stay indelibly forever and enrich the imagination.”

Jen wonders

“Are we real unless we can quantify it?”

Though, not everyone agrees. Anne G says

“I go to my favourite place in the world as often as possible and just sit quietly and enjoy. But, I also have a photo on my mobile phone to enjoy when I’m not there.”

And VaughnJess says

“I have to admit that I have taken the odd photo at a gig. It’s because I’m so hyper seeing my fave bands that it doesn’t sink in. Watching videos later let me absorb it all, and to remember bits I may have forgotten.”

Meanwhile Chris highlights another, slightly more disturbing, camera phone incident

“I saw a story on the news of a footballer returning home, to his own house, his kitchen in fact and there were all three of his brothers filming the entire event via their mobiles, so engrossed were they, all of them forgot to shake his hand or in fact welcome him in any way, the poor wretch was left stood there waiting for a brotherly hug that looked like it was never going to come.”

With every new bit of technology comes a need for a new layer of decorum. It seems, in some places, camera phones have yet to establish their own.

Maybe it’s time we started, what do you think?

Photo from Admiralty