This paper will examine how the power of filming technology – connected the development of the smartphone – leads to a process of democratization that brings increasing control of information, images, and events to the individual person. Filming loses its elite quality and is brought down to the level of the masses. Gradually people are empowered to both film and to be filmed. This right is important for human development in a technological world which involves the ability to participate in media technology and not to be overpowered or controlled by it. It will demonstrate this through a reading of Walter Benjamin’s ideas concerning the technologies of film in the age of mechanical reproduction. It will apply Benjamin’s ideas to the current situation where news and social media such as TikTok which are increasingly shaped by the contributions of individuals. It will also show the negative implications, and will conclude that the human empowerment that accompanies video technologies needs to be accompanied by the cultivation of trust.