SharpShooter Loc: NorCal

It could very well be the other way around too.
When I use my phone, my skills as a photographer don't magically disappear!!!

I'll be going to Rio at the end of the summer. I'm anxious to see if any of the photographers at the finish line of the 100 meter dash will be using a phone camera? What do you think?!?!
SS

charles brown Loc: Tennesse

Thank you all for your comments. Without a doubt many of todays smartphones are capable of taking outstanding photos, particularly when used by a knowledgeable person. What I have found is that most persons using the smartphones are more interested in the ability to take a quick look at the picture taken, show it to others immediately and then post to social media. Quality isn't that big of an issue to them. Unless I can turnaround my photos to them within a day or two they have already moved on and are not really that interested in seeing them. Just the way things are.

JD750 Loc: SoCal

And there it is.

jimmya Loc: Phoenix

So? Let them use their little gadgets while you shoot with a real camera.

cambriaman Loc: Central CA Coast

You are correct. I was at my twin grandsons birthday party (coincidentally also 5 years old) Saturday and except for my daughter with the Nikon D5000 I gave her 5 years ago, I was the only person there of about 50 with a DSLR or anything more complex than a Smartphone. Signs of the times. The newer Smartphones are producing great results, more than adequate for most family snapshot purposes. The point is that the 21st Century has brought technology to a stage where adequate results can be obtained without film processing or printing. Take a shot, make a couple of selections and the whole family, wherever they are, can have one to view on their phone, or tablet, or computer and they can make their own prints just as fast. Ain't technology grand?

JohnSwanda Loc: San Francisco

The vast majority of people never cared about quality. They were snapshooters with point and shoot film cameras, and now they are snapshooters with phone cameras. They may shoot more now that it doesn't cost more, but they didn't take the time to craft photos carefully with film either. Serious photographers now and then used adjustable cameras, learned the basics, and and strived to do better than snapshots.

klaus Loc: Guatemala City, Guatemala

I don't think anything has changed!

25 years ago most people took crappy pictures with their cheap crappy film cameras.
Nowadays most people take more crappy pictures with the cheap crappy digital cameras built into their smartphones.

Decades ago my old pappy used to say: "Son, it doesn't really matter if the photos are overexposed, underexposed or blurry. Those people will always be happy as long as they can somehow recognize who is in the picture"...and that certainly hasn't changed.

JD750 Loc: SoCal

I was at a social event over the weekend, one of the people in our group was a 22yr old recent , UCLA College Graduate, in Medicine. Smart kid. He said "people in my generation are not interested in photography, we take photos to share on social media, because we want to show others we are cool". (He really did say "cool". I thought that was an archaic term from my generation).

So for the 20's crowd, the camera is merely a tool to use in the competition for social status. It has nothing to do with photography, other than a photo shared on social media is real time proof that someone is doing something cool. Thus granting that individual higher social status among their peers. And they have a lot of peers on social media!

Sometimes it's nice not to be young.

Photocraig

When I do that they all call my old 50D and lens a BIG camera. And the kids ask about it. The latest generation Apple and Android phones have some good photo optics, sensors and software. They more than rival the lower end P&S's.