I remember a few years back, the very thought of taking a camera-equipped mobile phone into a swimming pool would have immediately — and quite rightly — branded you as some sort of perverted weirdo. And yet for the last few times Andie and I have been at Center Parcs, we have witnessed the eyeroll-inducing rise in frequency of people who just cannot be away from their black slab of plastic for more than five minutes, and the concurrent increase in prevalence of the waterproof phone lanyard.
Now, I'm sure at least some of the people obsessed with their phones who can't even leave it behind to go swimming think they have some sort of valid reason for bringing it along — be it keeping a record of a family holiday, sharing a video no-one cares about on TikTok or filling up their Google Photos with things that they'll never look at ever again. But I'm also sure I'm not the only one who isn't entirely comfortable with phones being around in an environment where everyone is quite vulnerable due to the fact they're not wearing very much.
And yet this just seems to have sort of… become okay at some point. For pretty much as long as I can remember, those signs next to municipal pools would have "NO PHOTOGRAPHY" as part of the usual "NO DUCKING, NO BOMBING, NO HEAVY PETTING" lineup, but I guess we just… don't care about that any more? Center Parcs' pool does at least have signs saying that photography is strictly prohibited in the changing and shower area, so that's something, I guess, but I still… just don't feel entirely comfortable with this.
To me, it just seems like yet another example of people refusing to just live in the moment without there being some sort of permanent record of it attached to their online profiles. Our brains are amazing things; they can maintain memories of things we loved for a very long time indeed, as I have hopefully demonstrated numerous times on this blog. Hell, I have memories of coming to Center Parcs as a kid that are still incredibly vivid — and I didn't need a camera to keep those memories safe and sound.
I won't be completely hypocritical here; I do often browse back through my Google Photos library, which has become a nice sort of "album" of "what happened when" in many ways — but also at the same time, I know there are times where I will regret having viewed the whole thing on a mobile phone screen. Aside from the fact that I cannot think of a reason why I would actually want to film myself or Andie in the swimming pool, I have always felt that going swimming — particularly if it's at an interesting, fun pool like the ones at Center Parcs — is something best experienced in the moments, and then you carry the memories with you.
Maybe I'm wrong though. Maybe I'm the weird one. Maybe I should just invest in a waterproof phone lanyard and bring my phone into the pool next time.
Nah, I don't think so. I don't want to look like a pervert. And whatever reason people might have for bringing their phones into the pool, I still think they look like perverts. You do not need your phone in the swimming pool. Leave it in your sodding locker like a normal person!
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