(A Creative Piece)

I believe anyone can take a great photograph. Truly. Anyone. And maybe some people think that makes it less of an art. I’m not worried about whether someone believes it is an art or not. That doesn’t matter to me. Photography holds a place in my heart because it has allowed me to understand why I am who I am. Through the images I take, I have been able to watch myself grow. 

But what does a photograph mean to me? 

A photograph means memory. It means life. It means death. It means holding onto a moment for just a second longer to feel it a little more.

Like many, I have felt this intense need to delete apps off of my phone; Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, etc. I have gone through periods of ignoring them by turning off notifications or removing them from my home screen. But deleting my accounts? That just hasn’t happened quite yet. 

Numerous Gen Zers have expressed their frustrations with the extremity of social media in our society. I have been in various conversations where people in their early 20s, me included, seem to have already decided that their future children will not be allowed to have social media accounts until specific ages out of fear that it will do to them what it did to us. There is a rush of anxiety and insecurity that seems to run through many of us just by scrolling through these platforms. Yet, we continue to do it, daily.

We watch videos of people telling us how to look, how to think, how to be. We scroll mindlessly. It is agreed upon by many that attention spans have gone down drastically over the years with the introduction of apps like Vine and then to Tiktok. People barely sit down for a full Youtube video anymore. 

Gen Z is the first generation to grow up being surrounded by social media at such a young age. Older generations have not felt the effects of it in the same ways. A recent study done by The Harris Poll found that “about half of adult Gen Z social media users (47%) report that they use social media for 2-4 hours per day. Sixty percent of the sample spend at least 4 hours a day, with 22% saying they spend seven or more hours each day.” However they also found that nearly half of adult Gen Zers wish that many of these apps were never invented.

There is clearly something happening here. 

Purple lights illuminate the walls of the small cellar room of The Bowery Electric as a petite girl with a wavy mullet steps on stage in her star patterned cowboy boy boots and sparkling dress. “Hey, guys. We’re monarch!” she says and the band starts playing, loud. After ending her day job, upstate New Yorker, Sarah Hartstein is seen dancing around the stage singing her heart out with her bandmates from gig to gig. 

The 23 year-old singer just played her final show of the year at the classic New York City venue, The Bowery Electric, located in lower Manhattan, with her band monarch this past Saturday, as they opened for The Wonderlands. It was an intimate gig with a room full of friends, family, and fans. Before and after the show, Hartstein was seen making her way through the crowd as she was met with various hugs and conversations. Her smile was wide, her energy contagious.

“A lot of bands that we’ve played with in the city are just really supportive and good freaking people and really freaking talented…We've been lucky,” she said.

Hartstein has always had a love for music, but she originally went to school for something completely different. She attended Purchase College studying biology to become a vet, even after originally planning to attend for music. However, when Covid hit, she decided to make a change toward visual arts. She transferred to SUNY New Paltz to study graphic design. Now Hartstein works full time as a graphic designer for Health Monitor Network, a health marketing network that provides high quality education for patients. “It’s patient education in a way,” said Hartstein.  

Hartstein spends her days remotely. She works with a team of other creatives that she adores. As soon as the clock hits 5, she clocks out for the day, allowing her to focus on her band.