By Hannah Jones
Instagram is one of the most popular social media apps out right now. There are 200 million monthly active users and an average of 60 million photos are posted daily. Photos range from bathroom mirror selfies to someone’s lunch to cute cats to seedy club goers and their drinks. Everything is chronicled.
Why is it we feel the need to document every little moment in our lives—meaningful or not—and post it for the world to see? Whenever we do anything important or even the least bit exciting, we have to have photo proof. We’re so busy photographing our lives with our smartphones, are we actually truly present? I’m not so sure. It’s almost as if we’re living our lives through the lens of an iPhone. And that’s a little messed up.
But there are a few guys over in the United Kingdom that have come up with something they think might get us to put our smartphones away. It’s a pair of sunglasses with an enhanced, custom tint lens. Apparently, these sunglasses called Tens “work with the warmth of the sun,” according to their Indiegogo page, “to lend an uplifting tint to the world beyond the lens.” So it’s like wearing an Instagram filter. Marty Bell, Kris Reid and Tom Welsh came up with the idea for Tens a few years ago and have been working toward creating the best possible product they can. Is it enough to keep us off our phones, though?
On May 7th they launched their Indiegogo campaign with a set goal of £9,400. In just one week, they’ve raised more than £180,000. It’s almost absurd the kind of backing Tens has already, but it’s really not that surprising when you think about it. This is a product so many Instagram fanatics would totally go crazy for. And that video was so wonderfully done, it’s no surprise people are lining up with money in hand.
The video is filled with beautiful, smiling people wearing the sunglasses and romping through the woods and experiencing life, and the whole thing has that vintage filter look to it that’s so popular. It’s so aesthetically pleasing, why wouldn’t someone want to live that life?
In the video, Marty Bell says a few years ago the group was asking themselves a couple of interesting questions: “What if there was a way that we could skip all the cameras and apps? What if there was a way that we could filter everything that we see whilst being disconnected from technology?” These questions led to Tens, the sunglasses you can now order in four matte finishes and a classic, unisex frame for £36 (or $60).
The price seems a bit steep for a pair of filter sunglasses. But they’re something new, something cool and artsy-fartsy that thousands of people will buy. Will I? No, probably not, but the idea is so intriguing. How these guys think a pair of sunglasses will keep people off of their smartphones is beyond me, but I’m curious to find out.
