Walter Mitty: When are you going to take it?
Sean O’Connell: Sometimes I don’t. If I like a moment, for me, personally, I don’t like to have the distraction of the camera. I just want to stay in it.
Walter Mitty: Stay in it?
Sean O’Connell: Yeah. Right there. Right here.
From – The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
We live in an age where nearly everything we see, do, or experience is filtered through the lens of a camera before it is processed by our minds. It’s almost automatic now — we see something beautiful, we reach for our phones, we switch to photo or video mode, and we capture it. But have we ever stopped to ask ourselves why?
I had this realization recently while sitting at Littles Park. It was an ordinary afternoon, and a flock of gulls had gathered on the grass nearby. The way they hopped, pecked, and squawked was oddly mesmerizing. Instinctively, I reached for my phone, switched the camera to video mode, and prepared to record this simple yet beautiful scene.
But then, a thought struck me — what exactly am I going to do with this video? Post it online? Add a caption? Wait for likes, comments, and shares?
I put the phone back in my pocket.
For the next several minutes, I simply watched the gulls play. No camera, no “content,” no pressure to share the moment with anyone else. And surprisingly, the urge to film disappeared. Instead, I felt calm, present, and oddly free.
That was the moment it hit me: social media has conditioned us to turn every experience into a performance. Our vacations become photo shoots. Our meals become posts. Our quiet moments are turned into reels. We are so focused on creating something for others to consume that we forget to consume the experience ourselves.
There is something powerful about just being in the moment. No camera between you and the view. No pressure to capture the “perfect shot.” No need for validation through likes or comments. Just you, the experience, and the quiet joy of existing in that space and time.
Perhaps we don’t always need to hunt for the most beautiful spot on our vacations, or chase sunsets just to get the perfect Instagram shot. Perhaps the real beauty lies in letting go of the camera, looking around, and allowing ourselves to truly feel the world we are in.
The next time you find yourself reaching for your phone to capture a moment, ask yourself: Would this be more beautiful if I simply lived it?
Even as I write this, I feel that same urge — to turn a simple moment into a lesson. Touché, me.
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