Photo sharing on social media killing real-life enjoyment

New York: Is your penchant for sharing photos on social networking sites preventing you from enjoying real life experiences? May be, suggests a new study. The study has found that 58 percent of people believe that "posting the perfect picture has prevented them from enjoying life's experiences".

The study was conducted by the New York Times best-selling authors Joseph Grenny and David Maxfield, who surveyed 1,623 people to see how social media affects their lives, Mashable reported. Maxfield decided to explore this subject after going on vacation with his family on his 60th birthday and finding that he was more focused on documenting the moments than he was on experiencing them.

He and Grenny have come up with a name for it - Trophy hunting. Trophy hunters are driven by something other than experiencing things and shooting photos to remember those moments - they want trophies to hang up. "They want to kill it and stuff it and put it on their wall," Maxfield was quoted as saying by Mashable.

Ninety one percent of the participants in the study also reported seeing tourists missing memorable moments because they were too busy trying to capture and share photos of the places they were visiting. Other participants reported engaging in unethical or dangerous behaviour in order to capture a well-liked photo.

"I disciplined my son and he threw a tantrum that I thought was so funny that I disciplined him again just so I could video it," the study quoted one respondent as saying. "After uploading it on Instagram I thought, "What did I just do?" the respondent said. Maxfield suggests people should become more self-aware, limit their social media usage and should be intentional about experiencing life instead of simply "hunting for trophies".