Attached to an article about the very recent protests at Columbia university was a short video depicting scenes of the demonstration including the police engaging the protesters after announcing the event was not legal. While there was not too much detail to be discerned from the tussle between the police and the protesters – the most prominent part of that portion of the video were other people – some who looked like wearing a press pass and other people clearly in protester gear and both holding cameras and phones intently seeking to record the interaction. So, I wondered – did they come to capture flashy clips for their social media accounts? Why did they not help their co-protesters? If they wanted to – how do you achieve anything if one of your hands is always occupied?
Note: it is fair to assume that the policemen and women were wearing body cameras – which would leave both of their hands available for what they were doing.
There is a lot of discussions about the ever-present phones in many social settings – focus always shows up on the negative side of the tallies.