Freeman Wu

Just watch a YouTube clip, be on TikTok.

If you're at the concert, you should just be present, right?

You should just put down that phone, right?

And so that really is what this thought is what really launched me now in this investigation.

So again, that prior research has shown that when you're the one documenting, you feel more engaged, you're more present.

But what we find is actually this ironic discrepancy where people around you think you're being less present.

They think you're not being engaged because you're living, you're watching and observing the whole concert through that dinky little screen on your phone.

So they actually think

that you're less present, you're not engaged.

And so they actually end up penalizing you.

They think that like, you know, this is not a very likable person.

I'm probably not going to invite this person again to the next concert.

And so it comes with all these negative downstream social consequences for the person who's doing the documenting.

Is it really that bad?

So it's not, I mean, it's not a matter of life or death, right?

I mean, these aren't people like, I'm going to unfriend you and cut you from my life, right?

Just because you, you know, um...

took photos during the Swifty concert.

What really happens is at the margins, right?

So, you know, as a consumer researcher, we study, you know, things that happen that can have not extremely crazy consequences, but at the margins can affect how people think about you.