Actively seek out and engage in experiences with others, such as eating lunch with a friend or going to the cinema. Science shows that sharing experiences in the moment intensifies positive feelings and makes negative ones more bearable, fostering connection and happiness.
Be fully present when sharing an experience with someone, actively avoiding distractions like your phone. Distractions can negatively affect the other person’s experience and diminish the quality of the shared moment for both.
Refrain from taking photos with the primary intent of immediately sharing them on social media. This mindset pulls you out of the moment, focusing on curating an image rather than genuinely experiencing it, thereby decreasing enjoyment.
Take photos to enhance your personal visual memory and immersion in an experience, rather than for immediate sharing. This practice makes you pay more attention to visual details, boosting visual memory and increasing enjoyment of the experience itself.
Consider your memory goals before taking photos, as it consumes cognitive bandwidth. Photo-taking enhances visual memory but can hinder the recall of non-visual details like conversations or tastes.
Seek out or create “safe” and “accessible” environments or activities that naturally foster social interaction. Such settings can help overcome social anxieties and facilitate genuine conversations and bonding with others.
Intentionally design or participate in activities where phones are put away or prohibited for a period. Removing phones allows for deeper immersion in the experience and prevents missing subtle details and genuine interactions.