A woman grasped her phone to her heart the way a minister might hold a Bible. She was anxious to take a picture of a bunch of flowers that sat not 10 feet away, but first she had to get through a crowd of others pushing to do the same. The cause of this was Bouquets to Art, one of the most popular annual events at the de Young Museum in San Francisco. For the 34th year, artists were asked to create flower bunches that respond to pieces of art on display, from ancient carvings to contemporary sculptures. It’s time to take a photo to post on Instagram, but to the point that it has become a problem.

In recent years» the de Young received more than a thousand complaints from people who felt that cell phones had ruined their experience. In fact, institutions of fine art around the world face similar problems as the desire to take photographs becomes a huge draw for museums as well as something that upsets some of their visitors. So the de Young responded with a kind of compromise: carving out “photo free” hours during the exhibition’s six-day run.

One common complaint in the ongoing debates over the effect of social media on museum culture is that people seem to be missing out on experiences because they are so busy collecting evidence of them. A recent study in the journal Psychological Science suggests there is some truth to this; it found that people who took photos of an exhibit rather than simply observing it had a harder time remembering

what they saw. But the issue is complicated for the professionals running museums. Linda Butler, the de Young’s head of marketing, communications and visitor experience, acknowledges that not everyone wants a museum to be “a photo-taking playland. ” Yet a lot of other people do, and she thinks that the de Young is in no position to judge that one motivation for buying a $ 28 ticket is more valid than another. “If we removed social media and photography,” she says, “we would risk becoming less popular.” If this is a battle, signs indicate that the pro-phone crowd (亲手机人群) has already won.

In the African country of Malawi, fishing is a way of life for people who live near lakes. Fishing employs over 50,000 people there. Traditionally, the fishers have several methods to dry the fish for the market. They include frying, smoking, or placing them on wire racks. But since the fishers dry their catch in the open air, about half of it slowly breaks down and goes bad. And some animals even try to eat the catch.

Now, solar tents are being used to help dry fish on Lake Chilwa, Malawi’s second-largest lake. The solar tent is made from clear plastic. The plastic is stretched over a large wooden structure. The tent looks like a greenhouse, a glass building where plants can grow in the cold weather.

Jennifer Mussa is a local fish trader. “When we collect fish from the lake, we dry them inside this solar fish dryer,” she said. In the past, it would take one-and-a-half to two days to dry. Now the fishers will put it in the morning; by the evening, they can take the fish out. The solar tents have also helped fish traders get higher prices at the market for cleaner, better-quality fish.

Money for the tents came from Cultivate Africa’s Future. The organization works to improve fishing and farming methods with simple inventions. The goal is to increase access to food, resources, and markets for the communities. The organization also encourages people to use energy-saving kiln ovens to smoke fish, not open fires. Then people can cut down fewer trees for firewood.