Photographer Reveals Our Addiction To Smartphones In The Most Amazing Way

It's sad that more and more people nowadays are getting addicted to smartphones; this new technology came into our lives and changed them. The problem is that technology is supposed to improve our lives, but most of us tend to overuse it. I think you all know what I'm talking about: going out with friends and, instead of talking with them, spending our time taking photos and commenting on the Internet. That's not how technology should be used. That's pathetic.

Based on the Pew Research Center, 65% of American adults use social networking websites, a number that has risen steadily from 7% in 2005 when their research began. The digital addiction has become so serius that it is almost more possible to see a person playing with their phone as you pass them by on the street than it is to actually make eye contact or share a smile with them. Phones were made to help our communication and, finally, communication is destroyed.

Eric Pickersgill is a photographer who decided to fight this phenomenon through his art. So he released a series of photos from everyday life with one minor adjustment: all electronic devices have been removed from the pictures.

The project, which he has titled Removed, was inspired and initiated by an observation he made one morning while sitting in a local café:

Family sitting next to me at Illium café in Troy, NY is so disconnected from one another. Not much talking. Father and two daughters have their own phones out. Mom doesn’t have one or chooses to leave it put away. She stares out the window, sad and alone in the company of her closest family. Dad looks up every so often to announce some obscure piece of info he found online. Twice he goes on about a large fish that was caught. No one replies. I am saddened by the use of technology for interaction in exchange for not interacting. This has never happened before and I doubt we have scratched the surface of the social impact of this new experience. Mom has her phone out now.

If some of the following photos remind you of your everyday life, then maybe you need to think about reducing the time you spend on the mobile phone. Maybe you need to spend more time with people.

Photographer Reveals Our Addiction To Smartphones In The Most Amazing Way