ABSTRACT
Experiences make up some of the most important aspects of our lives. From traveling to a new city to having a cup of coffee at your favorite coffee shop, nowadays these experiences often involve taking photos, to the tune of an estimated 1.2 trillion pictures in 2017 alone. However, given the time and importance photo-taking occupies in our lives, it is baffling how little we know about how photo-taking affects the very experiences we capture. One can often hear others say that taking photos ruins experiences, and that people should put down their cameras and just live in the moment. When people take photos, they report feeling more engaged and they look longer and more frequently at aspects of interest in the experience, providing further behavioral evidence for the engagement process. Of course, there are always situations where photo-taking becomes less beneficial, even for positive experiences.
