Jason Silva on the Instagram Generation

Last week, Jason Silva gave a talk in London, organised by PHD. He reprised a lot of what he said at Cannes earlier in the year but one of the things that was new was the last bit of his talk, about the Instagram Generation. He quoted Daniel Kahneman on the experiencing self and the remembering self, and said that this generation that is so obsessed with taking pictures isn’t doing such a bad thing after all, they’re merely preserving the moment for the future. I found that a bit difficult to digest, as I’m not a big fan of the people I know who literally obsess over smartphone photography. I’m not 100% on board with this even now, but it’s definitely an interesting perspective. It’s not going away, that’s for sure – Instagram saw an 85% increase in teens using the platform in 2013, and is now in the US the single most important social network for them.