The Sinister Monolith

Often referred to as doom, zombie or infinite scrolling, phubbing, brain rot, info snacking, bottomless swiping, feed grazing or falling into the digital rabbit hole, this modern concern exploits boredom. Not only this, it oversteps boredom into a project beyond which we feel we cannot escape without significant distraction, delivered by someone or something else, but often by our unconscious selves. A wake up call.

As hamsters on a wheel, we become captivated by its action until, something breaks the repetition. Our unconscious wakes us from this spell. Like a dream in sleep. “What am I doing? What a waste of time? I might die soon?” We feel used. We feel shame. We feel disgust. We feel cheated.

These black monoliths capture attention as they did Dave Bowman. However here, unlike Bowman, our attention becomes a commodity, not a creator. Not to serve some kind of impulsive creative act - the attention required to become something - but attention for the consumption of those who weald their power.

This commodity is our desire. Our desire for relief from a feeling of boredom, of being with ourselves. A desire to connect with ourselves. A desire to satisfy the lack within us. A desire met by capitalism’s most ambitious trick. That we might be satisfied not by something, but by nothing, and not least our own infantile gratifications. Dopamine, the naive attention of childhood. The ultimate regressive distraction.