These days, an alarming number of individuals go to tourist sites for recreation and only take pictures of themselves without taking in the viscenity of their surroundings. I strongly believe that this is both a positive and negative trend. My view on this phenomenon will be explored in this essay.
Firstly, I believe this rising situation occurs due to an increase in peer pressure in the society, and this stems from social media. On the one hand, this trend is bad because people want to fit in by posting themselves lavishly on the internet, just to show that they have visited a place. They do not go to these places to actually enjoy what the sites have to offer. For instance, the statue of liberty is a popular tourist site that people want to see. If visiting the statue of liberty becomes a trend on social media, many will want to attend a viewing of the statue, just to feel among and get praises from friends and well-wishers. Pictures would then be taken, only for the purpose of showing off and not learning about the statue. This scenerio becomes negative because, the value of the structure will be diminshed over time as no one will know about its significance.
On the other hand, taking a portrait of oneself during tourism can also be positive. Capturing oneself with a camera can serve as advertisement for popular places. When these photographs are seen around social media, or seen by friends and family, it creates a form of awareness thereby attracting people to visit these places. When people visit these places more, there will be in turn, an increase in revenue. For example, I learned about the Ikogosi river in Ekiti state in Nigeria from a friends post on social media. I was extremely intrigued about the river. It is a river that is cold on one side and hot at the other but they meet at one point and do not mix. Seeing this post made me exicited and I visited the Ikogosi river. I gained knowledge on the histoty of the river and its importance. The experience was a positive one and one I would never forget.
To conclude, well-known tourist sites are seen everyday and photographs will be taken one way or another. These pictures could either be positive or negative, so it is ideal that the heads of the popular places exploit ways to make these pictures beneficial to them and the society at large.