Oct 17, 2021

Why Use Paper Shoot Over My Phone?

On nearly every Instagram and TikTok post, we get one or more variations of this comment:

"Why wouldn't I just use my phone?"

And hey - we get it! Phones are these tiny little omnipotent machines that can do everything from making calls, FaceTimes, and Tweeting, all the way to, yes, taking some awesome, high-resolution photos. 

So why aren't digital, film, and disposable cameras obsolete anymore? 

We want to preface this first by saying that if you're happy with your phone, then by all means, use it! If you have a film or digital camera that you love and don't have an issue with, then keep using that. We agree that whatever you have on you is the most sustainable option, but there are a few reasons why opting for a Paper Shoot over a phone camera makes sense for some folks. 

While phones are an incredible resource for learning, connecting, and sharing, it is known that they are having an increasingly severe impact on our mental health. Phones not only cause anxiety, sleep deprivation, and depression, the impact that social media specifically has on our mental health is even worse. 

The rate of adolescents who use social media regularly reporting symptoms of major depression in a given year increased by 52% from 2005 to 2019. From 2009 to 2019, it grew by 63% in adults ages 18 to 25. More than 1 in 3 adults see social media as severely harmful. 

As we've been encouraged to share the delicate parts of our lives on social media, specifically with photos in regards to Instagram and Snapchat, we so often associate taking photos on our phones to posting. I'm sure we've all been there where we have 100 photos of the same thing in our camera roll so we can be sure we got that perfect angle, have spent countless hours editing to ensure they look perfect, and have eagerly refreshed our notifications when we finally release our perfectly cultivated masterpiece into the world. This is not our fault - social media was designed to be addictive, instantly boost our serotonin levels, and prey on our basic instinctual needs for connection and validation. 

Social media isn't all bad, but the way that the general population consumes it can be harmful to our mental health. A study found that 94% of participants reported feeling troubled when they didn’t have their phone. 80% were jealous when someone else used their phone, and 70% expected to feel depressed, panicked, and helpless if their phone went missing or they couldn’t find it.

It's fair to say that for a lot of people, phones and social media have a severe and tangible impact on our wellbeing and the best thing that we can do for ourselves when it comes to this is to simply take a break. 

Since the Paper Shoot has no screen, no setting options other than our four filters, and no way to see and instantly obsess over our photos, they're a great way to have an unplugged experience without hindering our ability to capture memories. In fact, disposable and film cameras have been specifically on the rise in recent years with young people because they wanted a way to take breaks from their phones. Paper Shoot achieves these exact same results in a way that's much gentler on our earth and our wallets! 

Paper Shoot cameras are not replacements for our phones in any sense - they achieve one thing where a phone can achieve a thousand, and if you're happy to keep using your phone, then that's the best option for you! However, they do provide some necessary relief and simplicity where phones don't - sometimes the overstimulation and the excessive abilities of phones are, inarguably, bad for us. If you feel negatively impacted by your phone at times, then maybe the Paper Shoot is a good option for you! If not, that's okay, too!

To read how Paper Shoot Cameras are eco-friendly, check out our last blog here.