According to research commissioned by Kodak, relationships with our family and friends are our top priority - 7 in 10 of us (68%) rate spending time with friends and family as a number-one-priority - but we're yearning to reconnect face-to-face.In this report we set out to understand how people use digital imaging technologies within their relationships with friends and family. The research was conducted in UK, France, Germany, Italy and the US, uncovers a growing mindset towards 'reconnectivity' - technology and digital imaging can play key roles in this. Modern lifestyles are ever more digitally and technologically enabled, and our research shows that this is entirely compatible with the human instinct to connect with other people and create bonds face-to-face. Early adopters are beginning to discover ways that advanced digital interaction can maintain and sustain interpersonal relationships - and even enhance them. And, in the future, such technologies will continue to support new forms of face-to-face contact.
"Every snapshot a person takes or keeps is a type of self-portrait, a kind of "mirror with memory" reflecting back those moments and people that were special enough to be frozen in time forever." From PhotoTherapy Techniques by psychologist and art therapist Judy Weiser, Director of the PhotoTherapy Center.
Relationships with friends and family are more important than ever
Technology has made it easier to keep in touch, yet the quality of our relationships with friends and family is declining causing many people to feel lonely and disconnected, yearning for richer, deeper relationships with friends and family. Here at Kodak, we believe in the emotional connection images bring to our lives. To support our beliefs, we commissioned renowned psychologist Judy Weiser, Director of the PhotoTherapy Center, to help us better understand the nature of relationships and the impact images can have on making people feel more connected to friends and family.
Judy Weiser is a psychologist and art therapist who has been pioneering "PhotoTherapy" techniques for the past thirty years -- exploring the "why" of taking, posing for, keeping, and looking at, ordinary personal and family snapshots. Founder and Director of The PhotoTherapy Center, author of the classic text "PhotoTherapy Techniques: Exploring the Secrets of Personal Snapshots and Family Albums" and the informational Web site "PhotoTherapy Techniques in Counseling and Therapy", she has produced a video/DVD and numerous book chapters and articles on the subject. Also a gallery-exhibiting photographer, she consults, lectures, and gives training workshops world-wide about using these techniques to help people improve their lives, even when they don't need a therapist.
Here are some excerpts from the findings...
Photos are truly cherished possessions
Americans enjoy being surrounded by their photos.
Photos rekindle relationships
Pictures help us feel more connected to friends and family members.
Pictures add meaning to technology based communications
Using pictures, technology can make it easier to cultivate meaningful relationships.
- The majority of Americans (82%) use digital cameras or mobile devices to take photos
- People who share photos once a month or more are significantly more likely to say that conversations that take place via technology are always or almost always meaningful (34%) compared to those who share photos less than once per month (24%).
- Frequency of photo sharing does not have the same degree of impact on conversation made in person/over the phone.
- Almost half of Americans (47%) emailed a recent photo of themselves and/or friends/ family to friends or family members or uploaded it to a photo sharing or social networking site.
- The immediacy offered by technology helps people stay in touch—1 in 4 share photos immediately and 7 in 10 share photos within a week of a taking a photo.
Most users of social networking sites (74%) say that viewing/sharing photos is their favorite activity on these sites.
