Caring What You're Sharing
Dr. Laurie Santos, with researchers Erica Boothby and Alex Barish, explores the human urge to share experiences. The episode reveals how sharing intensifies moments but also how modern photo-sharing, especially with the intent to post, can ironically detract from in-the-moment enjoyment and social connection.
Deep Dive Analysis
11 Topic Outline
The Origin of Sharing: From Photography to Instagram
The Innate Human Drive to Share Experiences
How Sharing Amplifies Both Positive and Negative Experiences
The Social Cost of Unshared Extraordinary Moments
Mary Ellis Bunn's Vision: Creating Spaces for Shared Joy
The Museum of Ice Cream: A Case Study in Shared Experiences
The Paradox of Sharing: Phones Detract from In-Moment Connection
Research on Photography's Impact on Memory and Enjoyment
Why Taking Photos to Share Reduces Enjoyment
Museum of Ice Cream's Efforts to Reduce Phone Use
The Importance of In-Person, In-Moment Sharing
4 Key Concepts
Shared Experience Amplification
When people attend to the same thing at the same time, the experience is amplified; pleasant events become more enjoyable, and unpleasant ones become more intense. This occurs because knowing another person's mind is full of the same contents changes the experience for both individuals.
Social Cost of Extraordinary Experiences
Experiencing something extraordinary alone can lead to feelings of isolation and even guilt, despite the high rating of the experience itself. This is because others cannot relate, talk about it, or bond over it, which detracts from the social potential of the event.
Photo-Taking and Memory
Taking photos can enhance visual memory, allowing individuals to recall more visual aspects of an experience. However, this comes at the cost of reduced memory for non-visual details, such as audio information or conversations, due to limited cognitive bandwidth.
Photo-Taking for Sharing vs. Keepsake
The benefits of capturing photos are diminished when the intent is to share them on social media, as opposed to taking them for personal keepsakes. Focusing on curating an online identity pulls individuals out of the moment, ultimately decreasing their enjoyment of the actual experience.
6 Questions Answered
The motivation to share is an instinct that kicks in automatically during the first year of life, driven by a desire to see and experience things simultaneously with others, not just to show them.
Sharing an experience amplifies it; pleasant experiences become more enjoyable, and unpleasant ones become more intense, which can foster empathy and bonding.
No, extraordinary experiences enjoyed alone can lead to feelings of isolation and even guilt because others cannot relate or talk about it, detracting from social bonding.
Taking photos can improve visual memory of an experience, helping recall artifacts or sights, but it can hinder memory for non-visual details like sounds or conversations due to cognitive bandwidth limitations.
Taking photos can increase enjoyment by making us pay more attention and feel more immersed in the visual aspects of an experience.
Yes, taking photos with the intent to share diminishes the benefits of capturing the moment, as it pulls attention away from the lived experience towards curating an online identity, ultimately decreasing enjoyment.
7 Actionable Insights
1. Prioritize Live Sharing
Actively seek out and engage in experiences with others, such as eating lunch with a friend or going to the cinema. Science shows that sharing experiences in the moment intensifies positive feelings and makes negative ones more bearable, fostering connection and happiness.
2. Be Present in Shared Moments
Be fully present when sharing an experience with someone, actively avoiding distractions like your phone. Distractions can negatively affect the other person’s experience and diminish the quality of the shared moment for both.
3. Avoid Social Media Photo-Taking
Refrain from taking photos with the primary intent of immediately sharing them on social media. This mindset pulls you out of the moment, focusing on curating an image rather than genuinely experiencing it, thereby decreasing enjoyment.
4. Capture Photos for Personal Memory
Take photos to enhance your personal visual memory and immersion in an experience, rather than for immediate sharing. This practice makes you pay more attention to visual details, boosting visual memory and increasing enjoyment of the experience itself.
5. Mind Photo-Taking’s Cognitive Trade-offs
Consider your memory goals before taking photos, as it consumes cognitive bandwidth. Photo-taking enhances visual memory but can hinder the recall of non-visual details like conversations or tastes.
6. Cultivate Connection Opportunities
Seek out or create “safe” and “accessible” environments or activities that naturally foster social interaction. Such settings can help overcome social anxieties and facilitate genuine conversations and bonding with others.
7. Implement Phone-Free Experiences
Intentionally design or participate in activities where phones are put away or prohibited for a period. Removing phones allows for deeper immersion in the experience and prevents missing subtle details and genuine interactions.
6 Key Quotes
How charming it would be, he later wrote, if these natural images could imprint themselves durably upon the paper.
William Henry Fox Talbot
Everyone's happy in ice cream shops. People aren't depressed. And ice cream was able to just, for me, like, undress my social anxieties and put me in a place where I feel like I can converse and be my best social self.
Mary Ellis Bunn
Just knowing that their mind is also full of the same contents as your mind changes that experience for you both.
Erica Boothby
Experiences aren't necessarily always enhanced or improved when you're experiencing them together with somebody else. They're actually amplified. They get more intense.
Erica Boothby
It's a double-edged sword.
Mary Ellis Bunn
Every time we take a photo with the intent to share it, we lose the positive effects of capturing the moment.
Alex Barish
1 Protocols
Museum of Ice Cream Phone-Free Experience (Beta Test)
Mary Ellis Bunn- Patrons are able to come for free.
- Patrons turn in their cell phones at the beginning of the experience.
- Patrons experience the museum without the distraction of capturing photos.
- Patrons are able to enjoy details like taste and notes more fully without the 'clutch of a phone to guide them'.