A few nights ago there was a concert for a series/event called Beats on the Beach.
It was Akon. Which was strange enough in Abu Dhabi. I felt bad for him - the crowd is not what he is used to - not very loud or enthusiastic, and he didn't handle the new location as well as he could - mentioning multiple times the ghetto, repeatedly reminding the crowd that he wasn't going to do the explicit versions of his songs (which almost could have gone as said), and it was a strange mix of older expats, college kids, and immigrants.
But then you add in the concert culture.
So many people were filming the concert with their phones - not watching/experiencing the concert, but instead seeing it through a pixelated screen. Distancing themselves.
It was almost as though they couldn't enjoy the concert without recording it, without saving it, holding onto moments that are meant to live in memory.
This isn't just in concerts, though that is fairly obvious when someone is sitting on another shoulders holding up an iPad to document.
We are becoming extensions of screens, of digital preservation, and I am wary as to the implications of that.
<3
It was Akon. Which was strange enough in Abu Dhabi. I felt bad for him - the crowd is not what he is used to - not very loud or enthusiastic, and he didn't handle the new location as well as he could - mentioning multiple times the ghetto, repeatedly reminding the crowd that he wasn't going to do the explicit versions of his songs (which almost could have gone as said), and it was a strange mix of older expats, college kids, and immigrants.
But then you add in the concert culture.
So many people were filming the concert with their phones - not watching/experiencing the concert, but instead seeing it through a pixelated screen. Distancing themselves.
It was almost as though they couldn't enjoy the concert without recording it, without saving it, holding onto moments that are meant to live in memory.
This isn't just in concerts, though that is fairly obvious when someone is sitting on another shoulders holding up an iPad to document.
We are becoming extensions of screens, of digital preservation, and I am wary as to the implications of that.
<3
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