Your iPhone is Blocking My View - Rules of Etiquette for Taking iPhone Pictures at an Event

This is an actual picture from my daughter's Kindergarten graduation last year.
This is all I could see. If everyone would have put their arms down, at least
I could have seen her singing her graduation song (that's what everyone is recording).

If you have any elementary aged kids in your life, you may have noticed a startling trend. At any event where kids are showcasing their skills, talent or just general cuteness, massive iPhone arm forests are springing up. They are temporary and only last long enough to block your view and end any chance you may have had to be able to see the result of all those dance lessons you paid so much for. As soon as the recital is over the iPhone arm forests magically disappear. What can we do to end this blight upon our children's events?

Okay, so maybe I'm being a little dramatic, but it is a fact that every two minutes, we take more pictures than the whole of humanity took during the 19th century. (Source) People take pictures of each other, of every move their child makes, of food, of garbage, of license plates, of ridiculous things we see on the street. Along with memes and emoticons, photographs are becoming an ever more increasing form of nonverbal communication. And you know what? It's turning us into a bunch of inconsiderate jerks.

It's true that we're all pretty new to the concept of being able to carry around a camera and a video recorder in our pocket, but the simple fact remains that, just like in a movie theatre, there should be rules of etiquette that go along with using your device to take pictures at events.

For example, you go to your child's Christmas program and in every row in front of you, every single person has their device out recording it. You can't see a darn thing no matter which unnatural way you angle your neck. There's a woman on the end using a gargantuan iPad to film the entire show from the excruciatingly slow parade of children lining up on the stage all the way through to the exit of the little darlings. There'a a woman doing a close-up video of her son, even though he is stubbornly refusing to sing. Then there are the people in the middle who are taking turns holding up devices like a bunch of iPhone whack-a-moles. Everyone's hands are all raised above their heads, smart phones held aloft right in front of everyone else's line of vision. 

In addition to school programs, weddings are another event where the use of devices really should be curbed. Imagine taking a look at your wedding photos only to see that in every single picture, several of your guests have their devices out to record your big day. A crowd of finely dressed ladies and gentlemen have morphed into a crowd of paparazzi displaying their Juicy Coture phone cases and whatnot. It's unavoidable for the photographer, and a huge eyesore in wedding pictures. In fact, this trend has been ranted about by bloggers like Stephanie Fusco at Leopard is a Neutral.

Regardless of how excited you may be to see your little peanut sitting on stage for the first time, or to watch your cousin walk down the aisle, everyone around you is just as excited, and they can't see through your outstretched arms, or past your enormous Berlin wall of an iPad. It's frustrating and rude, but since it's not socially acceptable to tackle other adults at events, let's talk about a better way.

Here are some ideas of how we can all get pictures and video of events without having to stare through a massive forest of smartphone arms.

1. Don't use an iPad. Please, for the love of God, just don't.
2. When taking a photo, be quick, and then put your hand down. You don't need seven identical pictures of your child standing on stage, so don't hold your phone up endlessly hitting the shutter button.
3. If you're going to take video, take a short one, and then put your phone down. There's no reason to film it from the very beginning to the very end, unless you're being paid to do so by the bride and groom/school/what have you.
4. If it's your wedding day, it's okay for you to make a note in the program or have the officiant make an announcement asking people to refrain from taking pictures or video during the ceremony. 
5. Same goes for children's programs. The PTA could organize one person to volunteer to film the whole program and then post it online. That way everyone can sit and enjoy seeing their child, and children don't have to grow up with memories of a crowd of parents looking like a hoard of paparazzi. Also, no one has to sustain a neck injury in order to peer around your iPad.
6. Be considerate of the people behind you. If you can't get a picture without holding your arms up high, then step into the aisle. Remember how annoying flash photography was 15 years ago? Holding your iPhone up high is just as obnoxious as that was.

It's hard not to simply do as the Romans do here in the information age in which we live, but in following these five simple rules, you will create a more polite world, and ensure that no one misses out on pictures of memorable events. Doing this also ensures that you don't get tackled by an irate mom three rows back. So let's get together and see if we can't achieve iPhone arm deforestation, for the betterment of humanity, and your blood pressure.