Mum Diary: Parents, put down your phones!

We took our boys to the aquarium last weekend, along with what seemed like every other family in the north-west.
 
The long, dimly-lit corridors were filled with tanks of the most startling fish, jellyfish, turtles and crabs, delighting our toddler Harry. And our six-month-old baby Olly may not know what a fish is, but he loves moving colours and bubbles, so my husband and I thought it would be the perfect day out.

Of course, we expected that the place would be chocker with other families, so we weren’t too surprised to have to queue for most of the exhibits. But one thing that did surprise me was the rows of adults pressed up against the glass of the tanks carefully filming and photographing the fish. With their phones.

Instead of enjoying their children’s excitement, or reading the information, or trying to engage their families with what they were looking at, they were busily filming the tanks.

[Mum Diary: How do you discipline a two-year-old?]
[Mum Diary: Should my baby eat better than me?]

This doesn’t make any sense to me. I enjoy looking at a clownfish as much as the next ‘Finding Nemo’ fan, but if I want to see a picture of one then I’ll look online. I’m pretty confident that dedicated marine photographers with cameras worth tens of thousands of pounds can take better pictures of fish in the ocean than I can using my phone to photograph something through two inches of glass.

Don’t get me wrong, I completely understand why you’d take pictures of your children posing by the tanks. As I’ve said before, I compulsively photograph my boys, especially when we’re on a day out.

But these parents weren’t taking pictures of their families, they were photographing fish. I just don’t believe that they will ever look at those pictures again. Why would they? There are thousands of pictures of every kind of fish available through the web, but they’ll never have another chance to see their daughter’s glee as the jellyfish tank lights turned pink or a shark make their son jump.

Even sadder were the handful of bored-looking parents checking their social networks and sending texts while their children watched the fish. I’m not a perfect mother, I know that looking after kids can be tiring and that sometimes you want to connect with other grown-ups, even if that’s via Facebook. But if you’ve gone to the effort and the expense of taking the whole family out for the day, isn’t it worth a bit more effort to enjoy it too?

It was the same in the evening, when we took the boys to a firework display at a local primary school. The kids were all ooh-ing and ahh-ing and smearing toffee apples around their faces, but a number of the parents were just filming the display with their phones.

I find this so strange. The fireworks were okay but they were a being done on a budget by a local primary school - the Olympic Opening Ceremony this wasn’t. And even if it had been, are they ever really going to sit and watch their shaky footage of the fireworks ever again?

[Mum Diary: I can't wait to embarrass my children too!]
[Mum Diary: That awkward moment when you forget you can’t sing]

What was magical about the display for me was Harry’s excited and slightly terrified face, lit by the bonfire’s dancing flames as he sat on his father’s shoulders. What made me smile was Baby Olly snug against my chest in his sling, somehow sleeping peacefully while the fireworks exploded and screeched in the sky above us.

And just like in the aquarium, all I could think was how much these phone-obsessed parents are missing out. They’re watching the world through a screen instead of enjoying the moment. Worst of all, they’re not even watching the right bit – they’re glued on the fireworks and the fish when the thing that’s worth watching is their children’s faces.

What do you think? Do you take pictures of fish or animals on your phone that you actually look at again? Share your thoughts with me and other readers using the comments below.