Everywhere we look, there’s a screen of varying size in front of people’s faces. They’re engulfed in whatever it is that they’re doing at the moment, temporarily oblivious to everything around them. Time moves fast in their device world, while the outside world creeps forward as well.
Years later, they have new, thinner, and more powerful devices. Life goes even faster, and when they finally look up from their devices, it is too late. Life has past them by, and they realize all that they wasted and didn’t experience.
This was the concept for the 15x20” poster “Technology has Taken Over”, designed by Nick Wittwer. The designer wanted to emphasize how deeply engrained in our lives technology has become. The problem goes much deeper than the tangible devices and software we use. It has truly become a part of the way we work, think, and live. Because of that, the designer wanted to show that technology is essentially as important as the blood which keeps us alive. The poster represents technology as pixels, passing by blood cells, which represent human life. They are both inside of veins, which represent the span of one’s life. And the change in the veins represents the change in our lives that tech has caused, and the change we need to make to keep it from taking over. The pixels (technology) are overpowering the blood cells, and there is a tension of control. A fight between the life of a human, and the life of technology.
Technology addiction is a relatively new issue. In 2015, the Pew Research Center reported that 92% of teens go online daily, and 24% of them go online “almost constantly”. 64% of Americans have smartphones. And 87% of American adults were reported as using the Internet in 2014. Only 46% of smartphone owners indicated that their phones were something “they couldn’t live without” (Pew).
This topic is very near and dear to me. I grew up with access to a computer, had a smartphone by High School, and now have multiple devices, with unlimited access.
From 2012 to 2013 I was spending a few hours a day on Instagram, not to mention all the other services and games as well. Instagram was exhilarating because it served as a way to socially validate myself. Seeing people “like” and comment on your work is incredible. But it got addicting. I would try to post more and more often, but it quickly became overwhelming. By the end of Summer 2013, I had been featured by Instagram, and had about 26,000 followers. I was getting hundreds of likes on my photography. Every time I posted, it felt amazing. But the rest of the time began to feel empty. After a lot of mixed feelings, I started posting less and less. Because that also meant cutting off the stimulus of positive feedback, I went through depression. The same validation that I had gotten hooked on started to become more and more worthless to me.
After learning from a few more Internet and technology addictions, my life is much more free of them now. I gave up gaming this year, try to get out and explore every weekend, and set certain hours to check my phone for notifications. It would be a lie if I said I didn’t enjoy or rely on technology. I love it. But technology has most definitely taken over, and it’s up to us to take control.
Sources:
Pew Research Center Internet Science Tech RSS. N.p., 08 Apr. 2015. Web. 12 Oct. 2015.
Pew Research Center Internet Science Tech RSS. N.p., 08 Apr. 2015. Web. 12 Oct. 2015.
Because the image was created in 3D, the closer you zoom in, the more detail there is. I call this the "CSI TV show effect".
Along with the final poster, we were asked to create three different explorations in different mediums. Left is a 3D render done in Cinema 4D, center is a combination of acrylic and ketchup, and finally vector in Illustrator.
