Cameraphones, MySpace and self-portraits

Link: The Gadsden Times – Latest News from Gadsden, Alabama.

The era of cheap, lightweight digital cameras in cellphones, in computers, in hip pockets, even on key chains has meant that people who did not consider themselves photography buffs as recently as five years ago are filling ever-larger hard drives with thousands of images from their lives.

And one particular kind of image has especially soared in popularity, particularly among the young: the self-portrait, which has become a kind of folk art for the digital age.

Framing themselves at arm’s length, teenagers snap their own pictures and pass the cameras to friends at school or e-mail the images or upload them to the Internet. For a generation raised on a mantra of self-esteem, striking a heroic, sultry or brooding pose and sharing it with the world comes naturally.

A good consumer perspective ‘thought piece’ story (by Alex Williams  / New York Times) about how cameraphones are tightly integrating into North America’s youth culture.

One galling thing for the industry is the comment above:

"Teenagers snap their own pictures and pass the cameras to friends at school"

Until such time as it becomes cheaper than 25p or 50p to send a text, we will all — for the most part — take tons of pictures with our cameraphones and then show the pictures off by PASSING round the phone to friends.  NOT texting them. 

I think I’m going to explode with frustration.

Breathe deeply.  One one thousand.  Two one thousand.  Three one thousand.

Ok I’m fine now.