I didn't pay to see Alanis through a screen

My husband and I recently went to an Alanis Morrissette concert. She was amazing. We had a great spot close to the stage. As she walked on and started singing her classic, Hand In My Pocket, I was so excited…screaming out the lyrics with abandon and thrilled to be able to see her so well. Then…to my surprise…I couldn’t see her clearly.

Had she wondered over to the other side of the stage? No. Was she flipping her hair at the back of the stage as the guitarist played? No (but she did that later and it was awesome). No. There was a delightful phone screen blocking my view. A woman in front of us held her phone above her head so I had to watch a mini Alanis through her screen or choose to move around her and try to find a space between OTHER PHONES.

As you can tell, this annoyed me greatly. Because I didn’t pay for a ticket to see Alanis through a screen. I paid to see her live and in REAL LIFE. Would it have bothered me if a quick photo was taken and the phone was put away? No. But this was not a quick selfie shot. This was someone choosing to record atleast half of the song for their future self to post and receive external validation about how lucky she is to be there or so that she can relive the experience at a later date. Or perhaps for a friend or family member who couldn’t make it (a more generous viewpoint).

Either way, that person was living in the future. Not truly in the present moment. Not enjoying the moment with all her senses, letting go of anything that was troubling her and just really feeling it. And she certainly wasn’t thinking about the people behind her, or if she did she may have assumed we were also filming.

Luckily, Alanis is so amazing that I managed to breathe out my frustration and find acceptance of the occasional phones. It still irritated me a bit but not enough to cloud my experience.

But in that moment I thought, why are we all so desperate to film something for our future selves? Why aren’t we just living in the present moment? I managed to focus on Alanis’s voice, the gentle (and very welcome) breeze on my face and the shared elation of seeing an artist perform nostalgic songs from our youth. I can still recall the feeling in my body from having truly embraced that special moment. I hear Chris Martin asks people to put their phones away during certain tracks so people can truly enjoy the present moment. Coldplay may be our next gig….

I hope you manage to find ways to ensure tech doesn’t interrupt your special moments in life. We took two photos before the gig started - one of us and one of the stage. This allowed us to be fully in the present moment when she appeared.

May we all hold onto presence in our highs of life.

Nicola x