Would You Rather Record Your Experience or Experience Your Experience?

Here's an interesting post by Kottke that expresses a dilemma I have experienced from time to time:

Marginal Revolution's Tyler Cowen occasionally asks his readers to suggest topics for him to write about. Stump the polymath, as it were. I posted a suggestion that I'd been wondering about recently:

Is taking a photo or video of an event for later viewing worth it, even if it means more or less missing the event in realtime? What's better, a lifetime of mediated viewing of my son's first steps or a one-time in-person viewing?

and he answered it today:

If you take photos you will remember the event more vividly, if only because you have to stop and notice it. The fact that your memories will in part be "false" or constructed is besides the point; they'll probably be false anyway. In other words, there's no such thing as the "one-time in-person viewing," it is all mediated viewing, one way or the other. Daniel Gilbert's book on memory is the key source here.

I've had the same question and I am not sure there is a one size fits all answer.  Cowan's point is correct and well taken.  I believe the book by Daniel Gilbert he speaks of is "Stumbling on Happiness," and it is well worth the read and will support Cowan's point that our memory isn't all we remember it to be.

At the same time, when you take a picture, either a still photograph or moving video, you focus on a frame, which means you select a small segment of reality to capture and crop out a good deal of reality.  To see the beautiful or the interesting in one frame necessarily means you will miss much that is interesting or beautiful from outside the frame. 

In terms of art that is ok - in fact that is a good part of what makes a good artist - the ability to see and frame objects in "artistic" ways.

But let's suppose you are at the beach and a beautiful sailboat leisurely glides by a few hundred yards off the beach.  As you grab your camera and do all the things you need to do to frame the perfect shot(s) you will experience the joy of getting a good photo.  But while doing this you will cease to contemplate and enjoy the experience of the warm sun beaming down on you, that enticing smell of the "salty" air, the melodic sounds of pelicans and the refreshing feel of the cool water on your feet.  To be sure, all of those other things still exist, but they don't register to you as long as you are so focused on getting the picture.  Your experience of the sailboat may be enhanced to the detriment of your "total beach experience."

Still, some things beg to be captured on film and this prolongs the joy, and as Cowan points out, may provide for more accurate memories in the long run.  We simply must make the choice in any given situation whether it is more valuable to capture the experience or experience the experience.