Well no, this isn't a school trip photo, as you claimed. It's clearly not. There are several adults and there are like 11 people. But yes...images represent ideas (that's what art is, too) and they speak to people differently. This image, to me, is about lost human connection and not being present.

I also don't think these are kids in the photo on a school trip...they're families visiting the Louvre

I didn't see this as a photo critical of these specific children so much as an image representing a broader idea: how phone use can destroy in-person human connection and appreciation of being in the moment (just as people now take photos of artwork rather than taking time and looking at it).

Thanks for choosing Fluke for the book club -- I hope your members enjoyed it and that it sparks some interesting ideas and reflections. (I'd ask to join the Zoom to say hello but alas the time zones are not in our favor as I'm in the UK.) But have a great discussion!

(And yes, I know, it's perhaps a misnomer to call the US a developed democracy now but it was through 2024, and that's what the data show in the chart.)