Column By the way: Why we take so many vacation photos - and hardly ever look at them again

Twenty years ago, photography was still a rather frugal act. You had a film with 24 or 36 frames and thought carefully about when to press the shutter release. Things are different today. The smartphone is always with us, and memory seems practically unlimited. As a result, we take more photos than ever before. But one simple question rarely arises: What actually happens to all these pictures?

The silent inflation of memories

Most people know the situation. After the vacations, there are hundreds or even thousands of photos on your phone. Some of them are sent, maybe a few are shared on social platforms. The rest disappear into the digital archive. There it stays - often forever. Observations of media usage show a surprisingly consistent pattern: most photos are viewed again shortly after they are taken. After that, the probability that they will ever be consciously viewed again drops sharply. Many pictures are therefore taken without them playing a real role later on.

Photography as a social message

In the past, photos had one main purpose: to preserve memories. A special moment was photographed so that it could be looked at again later. Today, a large proportion of photos are taken for a different reason. They are sent, shared or shown immediately. The photo thus becomes a message: Look where we are. Look at what we are experiencing. From a psychological point of view, photography becomes a social signal. The image not only confirms the moment, but also the experience to others.

The paradox of documented vacations

Psychologists have described an interesting phenomenon: When people photograph an experience, they often remember it less well later. The smartphone takes over part of the memory, so to speak. The device becomes an external memory. But perhaps the explanation lies a little deeper. Many photos today are no longer taken primarily for the future, but for the moment itself - for brief sharing, for showing, for the social echo. Perhaps this explains why so many vacation photos are hardly ever looked at later. Their most important function was already at the moment they were taken.

Which pictures remain

When people browse through their photo galleries later, an interesting pattern emerges. It's rarely the most spectacular landscape shots that stick with them. More important are usually pictures of people: Family, friends, shared situations. In other words, pictures that tell a story. Memories are created less through documentation than through meaning.

A small observation about our time

Vacation photos therefore tell us something about our present. We live in a world in which content can be produced in virtually unlimited quantities. This doesn't just apply to photos. Countless images, videos and messages are also created every day in communication. But as with vacation photos, a simple question arises here too: what will really be remembered? In the end, often only a few images remain really important. Most disappear quietly into the smartphone archive.

By the way ...
Maybe we won't remember the thousands of photos from our vacation later on. But of the few moments when we didn't take a photo at all.

Laura Colledani and Klaus Ammon have more than 40 years of combined experience in consumer research and marketing research. Over the years, they have developed a keen sense of what moves people - even beyond the numbers. Both authors advocate a communication culture that listens before it broadcasts. With the new approach of consumer listening management tools, they want to support marketing managers in not only questioning consumers in the traditional way, but also entering into a genuine relationship with them.