Lancer Media REMOVED: What would our lives be like #ScreenFree?
May 1, 2019
When you walk around the halls, what do you notice? For the most part we are zombies with our heads down, although phones are making many tasks easier for us, we are becoming much less social. How many times a day do you think you pick up your phone? Odds are you’re probably reading this on your phone right now.
The average teen checks their phone once every 12 minutes, burying their heads in their phones roughly 80 times per day. The American Public Health Association created #ScreenFreeWeek to try and do something about this problem. April 29 is the start of National Screen Free Week.
Lancer Media decided to do their own imitation of Eric Pickersgill’s photo series REMOVED. He was inspired one day by a family who sat down in a cafe he was in. Each one of the family members pulled out their device except for the mother. Her eyes begged for conversation, but she was left in lonely silence. This made the photographer want to show the world how these situations happen constantly, and technology takes away from our happiness. Lancer Media caught students in their daily lives and asked them to pose for the black and white pictures.
We strive to improve the lives of people with our innovations, but often deteriorate them instead.
While capturing photos for this series, we found into a common occurrence, this being people left and right glued to their phones, no matter the setting; hallways, classrooms, sporting events, lunch.
“I find that we rely on our phones to avoid awkward interactions. It’s a second nature thing to do,” said Dominic Barbagallo.
We no longer physically communicate well. Since we are always glued to our phones, we are bad at socializing with people, so when we see someone we don’t know or might not want to talk to, our first instinct is to pull out our phone.
“People care about their phones and social media more than being physically social these days. It’s so different from when I grew up,” said Principal Nancy Doll.
