Not very long ago, we took pictures of our TV screens to preserve images we deemed historical or noteworthy. Film was the only way to do it, and our parents didn’t waste it, because it cost money to buy and develop. All of the photos above look to be of the same TV (Sharp is the model), and they mark the mission from liftoff to post-splashdown.
I wonder how many pictures are taken by Americans today compared to 1972. I saw some kids taking “selfies” yesterday—non-stop, for about 30 minutes. Half a million times as many? A million? More?
(Photos via eBay)
2 Warps to Neptune 
The instant accessibility to picture-taking these days has exponentially affected the number of pictures we take, yet they’re mostly kept in digital format and stored rather than printed. I wouldn’t have exact figures, but I do remember discussing this with a co-worker a couple of years ago, and he said he’d read a study which stated that these days, only 20% of photographs ever get printed—and that was a couple of years ago.
FB and other social media outlets have totally blown up over the past year, and people (especially kids) take more pics than ever, not so much to keep as their own memories, but rather to share with the whole world. A friend of mine who does marketing research said that today’s kids are prone to record themselves doing something just to boast about it to others rather than to simply enjoy the moment themselves. It’s like they’re more into recording something to watch it later rather than just enjoy the moment when it happens.
It even goes as far as kids taping themselves bullying and/or beating up on other kids in school and posting it instantly on YouTube, with their names and everything. Can you believe it?
I think there was always that danger of focusing on the picture rather than the experience – that’s one reason everybody hates tourists. We don’t have to preserve anymore because the internet does that for us, so we “share,” although the word loses it’s meaning when nothing is private.
And remember slides?
It’s sometimes weird to think I was born before the final moon mission. That has to be some kind of generational divide right there…
@Jason: Totally. I felt old when I discovered one of my co-workers was born a couple months after the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster of ’86, while I was a sophomore in high school.
@2W2N: I have a few boxes of slides from my parent’s collection, dating from about ’70–’73 probably. We had a Kodak carousel thing that we viewed slides on. It’s a really vague memory, but I do vividly remember the sound of the whirring cooling fan more than anything. Slides were expensive to develop, and I know eventually my dad stopped buying slide film and opted for regular film.
Remember how I got that Super 8mm projector? Still one of the best things ever, simply because I’m able to relive those good ol’ days.
As for the internet…nothing is sacred anymore, at least not once something’s placed there. Our generation grew up with the mantras “Don’t talk to strangers,” “Ask for your credit card carbons and tear them up” and “Don’t let anyone know where you live.” What can we teach the kids these days?