Outlets
Technology, along with the demand for it, is growing at an alarming rate. From a young age, kids are given iPads, game consoles, and mass amounts of various types of media and information. I am part of a generation that still remembers what it was like to not have the plethora of devices we do now. However, I have watched friends become addicted to their devices, demanding to be responded to, questioning why they didn’t get enough likes, getting physically angry at their dead iPhone and its become grotesque to me in way and now I have come to view it as a drug. Just as caffeine, coffee, and alcohol are drugs, technology is now becoming the newest craze. Studies have shown that the notification noise from phones can cause spikes in endorphin and serotonin levels in all ages. “Outlets” depicts this addiction through common, cliche drug stereotypes, replaced with technological based items. I believe this addiction will only continue to grow in people, however, with the awareness of the addiction, I have now tried to understand “technological etiquette”, meaning there is a time and place for devices and technology and one must separate the two from personal and professional lives. I chose a diverse group of drugs to portray to illustrate the fact that just because something is legal, or socially acceptable does not make it any less of a drug. Caffeine, sugar, nicotine, and alcohol are highly addictive substances that many people don’t realize they have a dependency for. I have noticed the same thing in technology. People don’t tend to realize that they have a problem and with this series, I hope to allude to my own personal vision of the grotesque dependency technology has taken upon us.
