I'm always conflicted when it comes to Instagram Stories.
The idea behind Stories — on Snapchat, Facebook, Instagram, or any social media platform — is that they are personal moments captured spontaneously and shared ephemerally. Whenever I pause what I'm doing to take a photo or video, though, it takes me out of the moment, defeating the idea of a spontaneous capture to begin with.
I've noticed this especially when it comes to photographing my daughter. She's two, so there are a million things she's learning every day that I want to record. But I also want to enjoy these moments, and not take away from the experience by stopping to document it.
This is not a unique problem to smartphone photography. If anything, smartphones are less obtrusive compared to their larger forebears. But they've also created the odd experience of being easily accessible while being equally distracting.
Which is why I think the true game changer when it comes to photography will be augmented reality eyewear. Glasses that allow us to take photos without breaking away from the moment, such as continuously taking photos that we can review later, will be truly revolutionary. This will of course come with a whole host of privacy concerns, some that have already been imagined in science fiction, and some that we cannot begin to imagine. But the value of taking photographs without taking ourselves out of the moment will be so great that we won't want to go back to any other way.