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Photographer Removes Smartphones from Photos to Show our Obsession with Technology

The question of whether we are too preoccupied with our technology is a topic that everyone seems to have an opinion on. Photographer Eric Pickersgill chimes in on the discussion with a collection of photographs depicting how bizarre life would look if one just excluded all electronic devices from everyday scenarios. Through this series, he strives to show the obsessive preoccupation that people has with electronics and gadgets.

“This ghost limb is used as a way of indicating unapproachability, while at the same time existing as an addictive force that supports the splitting of attention between those who are actually with you and those who are not.”

Pickersgill was excited to start this project after being seated beside a family in a New York café, noticing that three-quarters of the members were too overwhelmed by their smartphones to bother engaging in conversation with one another. While the photographer does admit the obvious advantages that come alongside advancing technology, he continues that we must also be conscious of the social and physical assumptions that stem from the misuse of these devices.

 

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