Creating Moments That Matter in a Flimsy, Digital Age
Carlos Whittaker is a modern day renaissance man. A popular musician, influential blogger, and a YouTube sensation thanks for a viral video called "Single Ladies Devastation" (embedded below). But now with the release of his book, "Moment Maker: You Can Live Life or It Will Live You," you can add author and purveyor of the "good life" to that list. Here, we discuss how he wants to help people create meaningful moments in a flimsy, digital age and whether his ideas are "Oprah-esque." RNS: As you surveyed culture, what did you see that convinced you to write “Moment Maker”?
CW: At first, it wasn’t so much surveying culture at large as it was surveying the culture in my own home. And there was that moment for sure. I was outside throwing the frisbee with my son and captured a fantastic moment on my iPhone. I immediately stopped playing catch with him and uploaded the moment to instagram. I then scrolled through my feed for some time until I saw my son sitting on the grass just waiting. That is when I realized that we are so busy trying to capture the perfect moment that we are not living any of them. And so began my study into this strange moment-less existence many of us live.
RNS: Ok, so what is a "moment maker?"
CW: A moment maker is someone who is going to take each moment for all its worth. Sometimes this person will screw up a moment royally. Sometimes this person will hit a grand slam with a moment. But either way this person doesn’t let the moment go to waste.
RNS: So can we really create these moments in our lives? That sounds a little Oprah-esque to me.