Dancing v. mobiles

Much as I am addicted to certain types of new technology (well, mainly the internet) it has caused some social changes that I really don't like being part of.
This is a great advert to watch, but to me it just says - dancing to great music somewhere you're not meant to is much more fun than standing by and videoing it on your mobile. Which is presumably not the message they are trying to get across.

But then I am one of the crazy 'old-fashioned' types that doesn't think you have to have taken a photo of somewhere to make it worth having been to. Or that a fantastic night out isn't quite as good if you can't put photographic evidence on facebook the next day.

But I admire the creatives behind this for making such a fun advert to watch, whilst subtly tapping into our desire to use technology to share every great moment. If this had been a real flashmob, the dancers would have course been surrounded by people videoing and phoning people, and yes, it somehow reminds you that you'd like to have a good enough phone to do that.

But just as when people make tinny sounding, terrible quality recordings of bands at music festivals, and all you can see at key moments is everyone's mobile phone screens in the air, I want to shout at people to stop and just enjoy the experience for what it is. Afterall, if you ever want to watch it again, then luckily the chances are that someone else will have put it on Youtube.

Aside from that, although it seems slightly pedantic and beside the point to mention that this of course was not a real flashmob and that they are apparently all professional dancers in an otherwise empty station, the presentation of it as spontaneous even by the Channel 4 intro makes me a little bit more nervous again about commercial companies picking up on 'Youtube' styles of media presentation. More thoughts on this another time I'm sure.

ps I just came across this real flashmob - slower and less exciting to watch but quite special in its way I think...