October 11, 2019

Letter 128

Is Your Smartphone Camera a Boon or a Burden When You Travel?

By Tacey Rychter

Some research suggests photographs can enhance memory, but there's a cost. Henrik Josef Boerger/picture alliance, via Getty Images

The Australia Letter is a weekly newsletter from our Australia bureau. This week's issue is written by Tacey Rychter, an audience editor and writer with the Australia bureau.

I was hiking with a friend along the sandstone cliffs of Royal National Park, south of Sydney, on a weekend, when we noticed a guy balancing precariously on a thin rock shelf jutting out high above the ocean. The second his mate snapped a picture, I spotted a pair of humpback whales surfacing beneath them.

They both missed the stunning moment, completely. And O.K. for a second, I felt the tiniest bit smug about it.

Don't get me wrong — this isn't a morality tale about how phones are ruining our lives, because then I remembered I had dozens of pictures on my phone of the very same hike (including a dorky selfie with an unimpressed kookaburra).

I snap pictures when I'm in nature out of habit, really just because I don't want to forget the small details — like how that flower is oddly blue or how that sandstone formation looks like melting ice cream. Sometimes I also take photos so I can write about it later, because I don't trust my memory.

But I do wonder what I miss too, by so habitually delegating memories to my camera and not my brain.

Some research suggests photos can enhance memory, but there's a cost. I'll remember the flower clearly, but I might miss other details — like a bird's lilt or a whale's fin emerging in my peripheral vision.

Sometimes I think the way to be more observant is as simple as "just turn off your phone!" — or at least put it away more often. I'm also curious how others have found small ways to be present and notice more deeply when they travel, without necessarily banishing tech entirely.

For example, I know someone who brings a notepad and a fineliner on every trip, sketching each day's new surroundings even for just five minutes. Others write in a travel journal, after the experience.

As we finally head into sunnier weather, I'd love to lean on this diverse Australian community (that's you!) to ask a quick two-parter:

Where's your favorite place for a day or short trip within Australia? (Bonus points for somewhere lesser-known.)
What are your ways of staying present and more deeply observant when you travel?

You can email us at nytaustralia@nytimes.com. Keep your answers short (just a couple of sentences) and we'll aim to include a few in a future newsletter.

If you're looking for inspiration in the meantime, below are some recent travel dispatches from around Australia that will make you want to take a long weekend immediately.

Australia: Where to Next?

An influx of ambitious young chefs and restaurateurs flock to the appealing landscape and beaches in the Northern Rivers area of New South Wales.Paul Bamford for The New York Times

Northern Rivers Is a Breezy, Ex-Hippie Wonderland for Australian Chefs. The appealing landscape and beaches have attracted young, talented restaurateurs and the 'boho-chic' set.

What to Do in Australia's Gold Coast. If you dig a little, there is a lot more to the city than its glittery facade.

South of Sydney, the Australian Coast Becomes Its Own Destination. This stretch of coastline offers sandy beaches, excellent seafood and a growing arts and craft scene.
36 Hours in Melbourne. How to spend a weekend soaking up Australia's true culture capital.
From Top End to Tasmania: Two Very Different Sides of Australia. From plunging into waterfall pools to living the agrarian dream, here's how to enjoy these two disparate but stunning destinations.
With Beaches, Wine and Buzz, Is This Australia's Next Hot Place? The remote Margaret River region has beauty, vineyards and an annual food and wine festival called the Gourmet Escape that is increasingly putting the area on the map.
In Australia's Vast North, an Oasis Serves Thai Food. Is this the country's most isolated Thai restaurant?

Around the Times

Mourners outside the door of the synagogue in Halle, Germany, on Thursday.Jens Schlueter/Getty Images

Two Giuliani Associates Tied to Ukraine Scandal Arrested on Campaign Finance Charges. Two associates of Rudy Giuliani, the president's private lawyer, were charged with violating campaign finance laws in a new criminal case. Read the latest on the impeachment inquiry here.
Only a Locked Door Stopped a Massacre at a German Synagogue. Were it not for a dark wooden door, a gunman may have succeeded in carrying out a massacre of Jews he had planned to broadcast live around the world.
Why Is Turkey Fighting the Kurds in Syria? On Wednesday, Turkey announced that it was beginning an assault on a Kurdish-led militia in northeastern Syria. How did the two American allies get here?
A British Person Explains the WAG Wars. This celebrity scandal, which involved a monthslong social media sting, is "Desperate Housewives" meets Agatha Christie. It's the story Brexit-era Britain needs.

... And We Recommend

It's your last chance to see "Hard Truths," an exhibition of prizewinning photography from The New York Times at the University of Melbourne that features powerful images from Mosul to rural Cuba and remote Australia.

The large-format works can be provocative and hard to look at, sparking questions about how the news media represents conflict and hardship, and how the world responds to it.

The exhibition dates has been extended and will now close on Oct. 13, so you can catch it this Saturday and Sunday. Find all the information here.

We'd love to hear what conversations your visit inspires — email us at nytaustralia@nytimes.com or join our NYT Australia Facebook group.