Snap-happy

Hello from wet and windy Nelson. I'm on holiday at the moment and holed up inside with showers, rain and even hail making an appearance outside. But earlier in the week it was beautiful if chilly spring weather and we took a drive to Kaiteriteri where the school holidays meant that even a weekday had families on the beach.

I enjoyed pulling out my camera and taking a few pics but among my favourite photos of the day was one I snapped with my iPhone of a bird perched on a flax bush within reach of where I was sipping a single-shot latte. In less than 2 minutes I'd snapped a pic, cropped and applied a pretty filter using Instagram and posted to the followers of my personal account. In less than ten minutes a couple of my friends and even some strangers had seen and liked it. Technology has certainly made it easier to share every moment of our lives. I'm currently enjoying the daily posts my friend is sharing from her trip to the States.

Looking around at Kaiteriteri beach I spotted a couple of the next generation of gadget girls with a 7" android tablet out taking beach bunny pictures of each other. "Do that pose... you know... the one with the hair," one directed the other who, through teeny-bopper telepathy, knew exactly which one and promptly did it. They were talking about a pose similar to this Roxy one.

Prep your body for your next adventure with easy #yoga stretches #ROXYOutdoorFitness Have a great weekend everyone! @amymurphree

We drove over the hill, parked and walked down to Split Apple Rock and as I stepped onto the sand, yet another gadget girl, all of about twelve years old, had an iPad on a tripod and was busy taking video of the beach while her parents sunned themselves. During our short stay for me to snap more pics, she'd moved her 'camera' equipment and was busy taking video of herself narrating. I'm certain she'll have edited and YouTubed the resulting video before the day was done.

On the one hand we could despair about the saturation of technology into our daily lives but I was pleased and excited about seeing how well and how naturally these younglings were using the devices available to them. They were playing, creating and enjoying and although what they produced may be derivative and clumsy in the way of children, one day they could be the innovators in photography and video journalism.

During teppenyaki dinner the other night a mother and her daughter were out for a celebratory meal and were sat next to us. Mum complained that Michaela was always on her phone, Facebooking and messaging her friends. After chatting with us for about ten minutes she turned to her daughter and apologised for ignoring her. Michaela hadn't been bothered and as I mentioned to her mum "she's not alone; she has hundreds of her friends here with her whilst you are speaking to a couple of strangers".

Technology will inevitably change the way we live and the way we interact. But progress in any area will always create a flow-on effect to other parts of our lives. I'm certain that every generation before has worried about how technology affects us and what we do. I like to think that it isn't by creating an absence of technology but by making conscious decisions about how, when and what we use that makes change positive rather than damaging.

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