Infinite scrolling is currently taking a ferocious grip social media users. It has caused issues like instant gratification and addiction to arise in young people. Much of the content the public consumes digitally comes in the form of infinite scrolling, with more and more platforms and services adapting the format. The hours spent on infinite scrolling based platforms is higher than most would imagine, we spend hours engaged and do not even notice. Aza Raskin is attributed to creating this format in 2006 for Google, it was later deemed the “bottomless bowl” dark pattern because the feed never runs dry. His invention took off and is adapted by social media companies. With this whole problem eventually overlapping in time with lockdowns during covid, it is finally obvious that this new model for media consumption has been consuming the lives of millions, changing the way people spend their time and think about life or the world. This is why it is important to point out this issue in my art piece, it is spreading awareness about a discussion which may determine the future of human productivity, interest, and gratification.

This topic interests me because it is a problem which my generation seemed to grow up on the cusp of. I have used infinite scrolling, I have been fighting an addiction to it. I know of many other people who are in the same boat, and I imagine the rest of my generation feel it too. Social media is draining people’s motivation and time. I hope to highlight that infinite scrolling is a problem, a problem having to do with motivation, tunnel vision, and the consumption of time. Some of the videos people see online belong to an internet trend of pointing out this issue. There is a revolution within the social media universe that is happening. The people on these infinite scrolling platforms are beginning to realize its impact, as a social media collective we can begin a movement which works to generate solutions to the issue of scrolling addiction. The goal of this project is to spread awareness and comment on the issues relating to consumption of media through the method of infinite scrolling. I want to communicate that people are consumed by these media platforms because they were designed to have that effect. I want to communicate with everyone who uses a phone. This image will catch your eye with the focal point being the phone screen, this creates the tunnel vision you experience when you start scrolling. I hope people who often use their phone will be drawn to it and understand that the piece is commenting on the connection between the viewer and their screen. You are drawn to the bright phone as your surroundings dampen and your eyes desperately grasp the color in your peripheries. I want people to ask the question, At what point does contemporary entertainment overtake our environment and our senses?