These days it seems people can't complete simple tasks, like having a meal, without getting their phones out to Instagram it.

如今，如果不用手机拍照然后分享照片，人们似乎连吃饭这类简单的任务也完成不了。

It would be easy to think our obsession¹ with documenting everything takes away from the enjoyment of the experience itself, but a new study says otherwise.

我们很容易认为，痴迷于记录一切，人们便无暇享受体验本身，但一项新的研究指出情况并非如此。

Researchers have found people taking photos of events actually enjoy them more.

研究人员发现，人们在拍摄照片的时候，实际上会更加享受整个过程。

The study was published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology². The participants who took photos reported being more engaged in the activity.

这项研究发表在《个性与社会心理学杂志》上。报告称拍摄照片的参与者在活动中更加投入。

'One critical factor that has been shown to affect enjoyment is the extent to which people are engaged with the experience,' the authors wrote.

作者写道：“人们对这段经历的投入程度，是影响人们享受程度的一个关键因素。”

Photo taking helps this because it naturally draws people more into the experience, they said.

他们说，拍摄照片有助于提升人们的快感，是因为它很自然地吸引人们更多地参与其中。

The researchers asked over 2,000 people to take part in nine different experiments. In each experiment, individuals were asked to participate in an activity – which ranged from going on a bus tour to eating in a food court.

研究人员请2000多人参加了9个不同的实验。在每一个实验中，参与者被要求参加一项活动，活动内容多种多样，可能是参加一个公车之旅，也可能是到一个美食广场吃饭。

They were asked to either take photos or not, and completed a survey to show how much fun they had during the task.

研究人员要求参与者拍照或不拍，然后请他们完成一项调查，来显示他们在执行任务过程中感受到了多少乐趣。

In almost every case, people who took photographs reported higher levels of enjoyment.

在几乎每一种情况下，拍照的人都报告称自己感受到的乐趣更多。

But the same effect happened in the other extreme, in that photo taking can make an unpleasant experience even worse, the study found.

但是研究发现，在另一个极端会产生同样的效果。因为拍照会使不愉快的体验变得更糟。

In one instance, participants went on a virtual safari³ and observed a pride of lions attacking a water buffalo⁴, which most people did not enjoy.

其中一个例子，参与者进行一个虚拟的科学考察，观察一群狮子攻击一头水牛，对此大多数人都不喜欢。

In that case, the photo takers enjoyed it less than those who saw the same encounter but did not take photos.

在这个例子中，与看到同样场景但没拍照的人相比，拍照的人感到更加不快。

Taking photos did not appear to increase enjoyment when the photos interfered⁵ with the experience itself, for example having to handle bulky camera equipment.

当拍照妨碍体验本身时，比如必须扛着笨重的相机设备，拍摄照片似乎没有增加拍照者的乐趣。

The researchers also discovered that this effect is not limited to the action of taking pictures. Participants in one experiment reported higher levels of enjoyment after just taking 'mental' pictures as they were going through the experience.

研究人员还发现，这种效应并不局限于拍照这一动作。某个实验的参与者在体验过程中进行“心理拍照”，之后他们表示自己也获得了更多乐趣。

This shows it is the process of taking the photo itself that helps increase enjoyment. This means cameras that record any moment of an experience without the individual's active decision of what to capture are unlikely to have the same effect, according to the researchers.

这表明，拍摄照片这一过程有助于提高愉悦感。研究人员指出，相机虽然能记录任何瞬间，但需要人们积极主动地决定要拍什么，才能达到同样的效果。