// BBC UK NEWS — CRONACA
Sea of phones at Christmas event prompts backlash
This Carnaby Street Christmas light switch on video prompted a strong reaction online
When BBC London uploaded a video, external of the Carnaby Street Christmas lights being switched on last week, the comments section filled with thousands of people reacting to what they saw.
But, it wasn't the bright lights or the pretty fireworks that they were reacting to, it was the sea of spectators filming on their phones.
"Remember when we used to look at stuff directly with our eyes? Those were the good old days," said one comment. Another simply said: "It's such a sad sad sight."
Former EastEnders actress Natalie Cassidy commented: "Why is this piece not mentioning the fact that no-one is looking through their eyes at this beautiful display? It's really scary and depressing."
Many of the comments questioned why people would film the fireworks rather than watch them in real life, with one saying: "Nice to see everyone living in the moment, there's a 90% chance they will never watch the video again too."
One comment on the Instagram post quipped: "Anyone manage to get a video of this?"
Since camera phones became so universally owned, a number of studies have been conducted to understand the impact on our memories when recording events via photos or films.
Many of these studies conclude that taking a photograph or film of something can actually prevent us from remembering something accurately, rather than helping us remember the moment.
Scientists have termed this as "photo-taking-impairment", external, a phrase first coined by cognitive psychologist, Dr Linda Henkel, during research on issue in 2014.