Last summer we went to France. Among other things, we went to the Louvre and saw the Mona Lisa. To be clear, the painting is not at all depressing.

What was depressing was the crowd of hundreds of people who weren’t looking at the painting. They were holding their phones up in the air, taking a terrible, useless picture.

Did anyone in that room actually enjoy seeing the Mona Lisa, or were they all just thinking about how everyone in their social media circles will know that they went to the Louvre? I read that the Louvre had record attendance last year, with over 10 million visitors. I wonder how many of them actually looked at the Mona Lisa. The rest of them really don’t know what they were missing.

The next time you’re looking at something at you’re tempted to take a picture of it, stop for a moment. Before you take that picture, make sure that you’re really looking. Take a moment to truly appreciate what you’re seeing. Give yourself the gift of looking at it just for you. Then, if you feel like you want to share it with someone else, go ahead.