Carnaby Christmas-lights video reignites debate about filming the moment

A video of crowds recording the Carnaby Street Christmas-light switch-on has triggered an online debate about whether phones are changing the way people experience events. The London display took place last week; the current reaction is focused less on the lights than on the many screens held above the crowd.

Viewers questioned why spectators chose to record the display rather than watch it directly, while some responded with jokes about whether anybody had managed to get a video. Those reactions are comments about the scene, not evidence measuring how many people later watched their recordings or how much they enjoyed the event.

Academic Kaitlyn Regehr, associated with University College London and the University of Toronto, said the notable change was not mass filming itself but the strength of public criticism. She linked the discussion to growing discomfort over technology's influence on families and a desire for more control over digital habits.

Memory researchers have studied a photo-taking-impairment effect, a term associated with psychologist Linda Henkel's 2014 research. Some experiments suggest that relying on a camera to retain an experience can reduce recall of details. That does not establish that every photograph damages memory or that all phone users miss an event in the same way.

The contrast is not simply between technology and celebration. At a separate Oxford Street switch-on, organisers encouraged spectators to use phone torches as part of the display. The Carnaby response instead raises a question about choice: when does recording add to a shared experience, and when does it draw attention away from it?