When next week’s solar eclipse arrives, you might feel the urge to snap a picture or video from your viewing spot (to share on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, etc, of course, along with the rest of the country). But astrophysicist and general fountain of wisdom Neil deGrasse Tyson has urged the public to put the devices down and view the eclipse with their own eyes.
Speaking to a crowd at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, Tyson emphasized of the importance of witnessing the event (the first solar eclipse to cross the entire U.S. in 99 years) first-hand. “Experience this one emotionally, psychologically, physically,” Tyson said, according to the Associated Press. “I get it — you want to look at it later. But then you would not have experienced it in the moment.”
The AP reports that the astrophysicist went on to say that missing the event would mean that someone would “not live as full a life as you could have.”
Though a solar eclipse like this is—for most—a once in a lifetime experience, Tyson’s advice to put our phones down and live in the moment is timeless. In an interview with Thrive Global, Tyson spoke about his personal commitment to having device-free experiences.
“Most things that people take pictures (or video) of, I instead gaze with my my own eyes and commit what I see to memory. I have found that to experience the real thing is more indelible on the mind than tracking the actual thing via a 3-inch screen,” Tyson said.
Read more about Tyson’s comments here and look out for his interview on the next episode of the Thrive Global Podcast.