NM2208 Project 2 - Independent Narrative
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“The Oppressiveness of the Mobile“
Digital mobile technology has penetrated every part of our lives – from our conversations, to our working places, and as multiple forms of entertainment. In truth, it is harder to determine what technology has NOT transformed...
Social media has erased the boundaries between private and public space – with individuals uploading and vetting their entire lives online to express an idyllic, perfect existence. We judge our worth now through likes and shares – each one giving us shots of dopamine as we feel more reassured that people care about us for our unique selves.
Internet speak is now bizarrely inane – with viral memes and strange colloquialisms substituting clear and concise conversations. One-to-one messages have been truncated to little more than utterances of "LOL" and similarly dense abbreviations.
Consumer culture, now mutated into a driver of global conglomerate industries, invades our minds – purchases from across the world now being accessed with a tap of our screens. Augmented reality creatures become the object of our affection, and our dying passions.
Such is what humanity has reduced itself to.
A singularity of ones and zeros. On the move. Everywhere.
That is the oppressiveness of the mobile.
And nobody can rebel against it.
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What a wonderful world we live in.This unexpectedly ended up being my magnum opus for this course - thanks to some feedback from Ms Eve on the ‘screens’ in the latter half of the comic (she advised me to make the screens glow, which made the third image eerie and overwhelming at the same time).The purpose of this comic was to illustrate a gradual transition - when we look back, it can be hard to believe that smart phones were not really mainstream. But today, they’re everywhere - inextricable from our daily commute. All without warning, our world became reliant on mobile data.When was the last time we actually had to meet someone on time? With mobile phones, we are always in touch with each other’s schedules - and with social media, we likewise project ourselves into a larger, unified space. Our minds and thoughts mash together become a singularity - which was the inspiration for the final page’s tower-like apparitions.I hope this illustration will evoke an uneasiness in viewers - to make them realize that they are staring at the very amount of data that they consume daily. It is maddening, inhuman, and tiring.And yet we have grown to need it.To need what is killing us softly.