I confess that I was once one of the phone zombies whom Jason Okundaye rightfully criticises for obsessively recording concerts and performances (Do yourself, the world and me a big favour: stop phone-filming at gigs, 3 May). Eventually, however, I learned to put the phone away when I realised that if I was just watching through a screen, then what was the point in paying for a ticket? I may as well have been sitting at a computer at home.
Perhaps the way to solve this is for concerts to have a “phone window” for a few minutes halfway through, where the band pauses and poses, and rattles off 30 seconds’ worth of popular riffs so that everyone can get their selfies and TikToks to confirm their presence for the Facebook update.
There will be less pressure to whip your phone out to capture a moment if you’re confident that there will be a guaranteed moment later on, and then we can all get back to the undiluted experience.
Robert Frazer
Salford, Greater Manchester
• I only have one true regret and Jason Okundaye brought the painful memory back. During Nelson Mandela’s visit to the UK in 1995 I had a front-row position for his walkabout in Trafalgar Square and I got lucky as he chose to engage with the crowd near me. As he walked past, I had enough time to either shake his hand or take a photo. I took a photo. The result from my disposable camera was terrible, Mandela is barely recognisable. And I blew the chance to shake the hand of one of history’s greatest figures. Feel it, don’t film it.
James Taylor
Tooting, London
• Do you have a photograph you’d like to share with Guardian readers? If so, please click here to upload it. A selection will be published in our Readers’ best photographs galleries and in the print edition on Saturdays.
