C.A.S.T. (Conspiracy Against Solitary Thought)

There seems to be a conspiracy against solitary thought.

Being alone has become near impossible.

The prevalence of screens who always want to connect us to the world and tell us things are pervasive within all areas of our lives, so much so that the absence of media leaves one with a sense that something's missing. The saying of 'the silence is deafening' has never been more apt as it seems even in our most private of moments we are encapsulated in the connected-ness of media via the omnipresent glowing screen…

…much like the one you're looking at now.

You go to bed and hold your smartphone above your face. There's vibration sounds, games or phone sounds coming from the cubicle next to you in the office toilet. You can't go for a walk or exercise without your white earbuds pumping music. Even the social stigma of dining alone has been upended, as now we can bring a date in the form of a smartphone or tablet so that we never have to be alone.

Some may say this behaviour of having a form of media present in our lives has been around since the times of the radio, and liken our use of smartphones & tablets today to the common practice of having the radio or television on in the house even if no one was listening to or watching it. However, unlike radio or TV back in the day, if you stepped outside, perhaps to your back garden or a social engagement or even to work, your radio & TV did not come with you.

Our heavy involvement in our smartphone & tablet world have already shown their effects socially: Given we have the luxury of time to construct and formulate our replies when we chat online and message each other, we have the ability to construct a persona for ourselves, a character of how we want to appear to the outside world. A persona that we would not be able to hide if we were having the same conversation face to face with another human being. This would be due to things like pressure to respond quickly and body language revealing our true emotions and behaviours. This phenomena is most apparent when we meet in person those people with whom we have been communicating online. The personas fall short of who we were expecting to meet and are revealed to be nothing but a shiny, digital veil. As a result we are most often left in awkward situations. Situations that are immediately alleviated with a quick drawing out (much like a cowboys gun in an old western movie) of our smartphones, to remind ourselves not only of who it is we have just met, but to remind ourselves of our own personas.

Now call me naive, but i tend to think that we are more complicated than a collection of pictures, status updates and check ins. However, due to the time robbing aspects of today's media through screens, we are unable to delve deeper into ourselves to find and revel in the beauty of our own complex nature. Instead, we seem to be diving deeper into our online personas, so much so, that given enough time, we will be incapable of critical thought in the absence of media telling us what thought to have. A time where if given the chance for true solitude, the single thought that will consume our mind space will be...'where's my phone?'

These are just a few points which contribute to my belief that there actually is a conspiracy against true solitude and the thought which most often emanates from it. Whether it be screens of convenience, screens of comfort or screens we look at begrudgingly, they all embed a message in our-selves. A message that makes us feel that the omnipresence of media via screens is the new normal and their absence, a deafening, awkward, silence.

I think all of this stems from our modern societal behaviours of being a consumer. We are told to consume as much as we can as this will enrich our lives...next part consumption.