Are we too attached?

Recently I read an article in the New York Times outlining our use of technology and it's outcomes on our lives. The article focuses on an event that occurred recently, where an author named Scott Welch was on a flight that led to a mechanical malfunction filling the plane cabin with smoke and dropping the support masks from the ceiling. While other people on board cried or sat quietly to reflect. Mr. Welch began recording his last moments on video and took numerous selfies. This seems to be an interesting new phenomenon world wide. Life's moments are often times not lived, but rather recorded with videos or pictures. This article makes one defining statement that I think is worth investigating. 

"To live the moment or record the moment? It’s become a defining dilemma of the iPhone age"

To say that our culture has changed over the last 5 years is a vast understatement. The use of smartphones has gone through the rough, and honestly I am not sure that I currently know a single person that doesn't own an, I-phone, Galaxy, or some-other form of high end device. The benefits of these devices is tremendous. However, sometimes I wonder if the downside is equally great. I am from Boulder, and thus I spend my fair share of time outside, nature loving, and generally being a hippy. I truly love the quiet moments in life, where my phone doesn't work, and I can sit back and enjoy the tremendous beauty of earth. However, I have at times in my life found myself feeling like I need to take a picture of a moment to capture it and share with the rest of the people that I know. I think that from time to time that this is ok. However, I hope that people can find a way to be selfish in some moments and just enjoy the moment they are living for themselves. Rather than experience all moments figuring out what cute caption they are going to put under their selfie. I also wonder as an educator, how we teach our students to be able to put their devices down sometimes to sit back and enjoy our time on earth.