There is little doubt that any large group of people in the world, no matter the culture, the location or relative wealth, will have a decent number of phone users active at any one time.
As a street photographer this leaves you with few options other than to include them.
There is no doubt they are useful, well maybe.
They help stave off the modern enemy of momentary boredom.
To keep in touch with loved ones.
Maybe find your way.
Otherwise you need to resort to a lot of this, heaven forbid.
To get information about things you see.
Take those important, once in a lifetime photographs.
Which clearly have no other way of being captured……… .
Good luck making a call on that device fella.
The phone era will have its place in the history of street photography just as any other and I guess if street imaging has any relevance, it is as a method of recording life and what ever that meant at the time.
Will we remember these times lovingly or quaintly in comparison to the near future? I suppose if we knew the answer to that question we would simply go there, because isn’t newer always better?
That does not explain the younger generations appreciation for all things “retro”.
It is human nature to both worship and despise the tools and habits of the now. We want the future, but also miss the past. The now is the nothing point between these two supposedly better times, when of course it is them both, only real. Appreciating the now of life may well be the secret to happiness.
