Lithium Magazine
  • Home
  • About
    • Editors
    • Writers
    • Artists
    • Photographers
  • Contact
    • Work With Us
  • Events
  • Shop
  • Read
    • Sex & Love
    • Culture & Entertainment
    • News & Politics
    • Life
    • Photography
Instagram
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
Followers
Followers
Lithium Magazine
Lithium Magazine
  • Home
  • About
    • Editors
    • Writers
    • Artists
    • Photographers
  • Contact
    • Work With Us
  • Events
  • Shop
  • Read
    • Sex & Love
    • Culture & Entertainment
    • News & Politics
    • Life
    • Photography
  • Photography

Blurred

  • July 19, 2020
  • No comments
  • 1 minute read
  • Callie Keels

This project is an exploration of my relationship with technology in the confines of isolation. The other day I woke up to my iPhone informing me that I’d averaged nine hours of daily screen the previous week. I was shocked and immediately blamed it on the fact that everything comes from our devices these days: work, entertainment, our social lives. While this is true, I’m sure a large part of that time spent staring at my screen was for no particular reason other than my being addicted and dependent on it.

This visual essay is an exploration of my addiction. As I took mental notes of all of the times I turned to my screen that week, I set out to capture them with my camera. I used lighting to create a surrealistic cyberscape, turning my home into an environment where reality and my digital existence blur together. In some images, you can see our facial features even fade away into the light of our screens. This represents a loss of self in their presence. We’re locked into communication with them, more than each other.

 

Photos by Callie Keels

 

Related Topics
  • CYBER
  • isolation
  • surrealism
Previous Article
  • Culture & Entertainment

Shane Dawson and the Myth of the Unproblematic YouTuber 

  • July 18, 2020
  • Kiddest Sinke
View Post
Next Article
  • Fashion & Beauty

In Conversation with Susan Korn, Instagram’s Whimsical Fashion Queen

  • July 19, 2020
  • Katherine Williams
View Post
You May Also Like
View Post
  • Photography

Chasing

  • January 25, 2021
  • Callie Keels
View Post
  • Photography

How to Not Give a Single Flaming Fuck

  • October 30, 2020
  • Grace Wiehl
View Post
  • Photography

The Silly Things We Miss

  • October 29, 2020
  • Abigail Tulenko
View Post
  • Photography

Spotlight

  • August 27, 2020
  • Lauren Hicks
View Post
  • Photography

Wrapped Up

  • August 10, 2020
  • Callie Keels
View Post
  • Photography

A Zine on Coming of Age

  • July 28, 2020
  • Valeria Moreno
View Post
  • Photography

​Cyber-Souvenirs​

  • July 28, 2020
  • Célia Blum
View Post
  • Photography

Is This Now?

  • July 27, 2020
  • Savanna Ruedy

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Featured Posts
  • 1
    A Deep Dive Into the Darknet Drug Market
    • April 15, 2021
  • 2
    My Love-Hate Relationship with Email
    • April 14, 2021
  • 3
    Have You Thought About Your Neighbors Today?
    • April 13, 2021
  • 4
    How Capitalism Forces Us to Commodify Our Personal Lives
    • April 12, 2021
  • 5
    Don’t Call Rowing Blazers Founder Jack Carlson Preppy
    • April 9, 2021
Recent Posts
  • Discovering My Sexuality, Alone in My Childhood Bedroom
    • April 8, 2021
  • Are Tastemakers the New Influencers?
    • April 6, 2021
  • What’s Private Is Public: Drawing the Ethical Line as a Personal Essayist 
    • April 5, 2021
Categories
  • Culture & Entertainment (158)
  • Fashion & Beauty (33)
  • Life (149)
  • News & Politics (74)
  • Photography (63)
  • Sex & Love (70)
Search
Instagram
Capitalism forces us to commodify our personal lives. Success is measured by profitability—and how well we can package our personal lives to gain likeability and engagement. And with that can come mistreatment, unethical acts that are difficult to fight against alone. Lithium writer @jordinna notes, “It is the role of the privileged to take a stand and bargain whenever necessary to pave the way for those unable to do so themselves. If you can safely express your opposition, complaints, or needs, you should, as you’ll be encouraging the development of a healthier and more ethical setting for those with precarious jobs.” Read about it now on Lithium ⚖️
In an interview with @jackcarlson, the founder of @rowingblazers, there are several tangents and an unabashed bluntness about the state of contemporary fashion and consumption. He doesn’t hesitate to name-drop when talking about everything he never wants Rowing Blazers to become—Rowing Blazers wants to turn stuffiness into self-awareness within the world of preppy style. Read our latest interview by @katwilliiams on Lithium ⚡️
From scrolling through Tumblr to inviting significant others in, @mayarpage’s bedroom was an inseparable part of discovering her sexuality. In her newest personal essay, she writes, “My old bedroom is a time capsule—it invokes the memories of my coming of age, the euphoric feelings of finding myself, feeling seen and loved. The door will always be open.” Read on Lithium now ⏳
Nowadays, good taste is a currency for clout. The rise of curation in all echelons of the cultural hierarchy results from the problem at the heart of digital consumerism: people don’t trust algorithms and are overwhelmed by choice. Curation, therefore, is the counterculture movement that restores meaning to content and products. But, with that comes concerns of gatekeeping and elitism and consumerism. Read @jvsli’s latest on Lithium now ⚡️
For personal essayists, what’s private often feels public. Are writers more preoccupied with protecting other people’s information than their own? Lithium writer @itsalicegarnett muses, No writer ever wants to receive the ‘is this about me?’ text, so we omit and we fine-tune to avoid conflict with the people in our lives. Still, thanks to writing so many personal essays, I’m struggling to draw the line between myself as Person versus myself as Writer.” Read more on the site now ✍️
Really, the new Billie Eilish documentary helps bridge the gap between the celebrity and her fans. @elliergreenberg writes, “With one foot in what’s left of her childhood—hanging with hometown friends, sleeping in her childhood bedroom, and spending time with her protective parents—Eilish is also beginning to step into adulthood, the process being considerably sped up by her burgeoning fame. This constant push and pull between her two worlds is ever-so-present throughout the film, speaking truth to the title—the world is spinning around Eilish, dizzying her in the process.” Read about it now on Lithium ⛓
The music industry slaps this label—“sad girl indie”—on any woman who expresses her emotions. It’s lazy at best but precarious at worst, revealing both the issues with the label and the need to invent more appropriate genres (or ditch categorization altogether). In her latest essay, @nat.geisel writes about the dilemma of the “sad indie girl” trope faced by artists from Phoebe Bridgers to Mitski, while men who share their emotions are applauded for their brilliance. Read more on the site now 🎶
Normalize disliking people for no particular reason. Let’s face it—we just don’t click with everyone we meet. And there doesn’t have to be beef. Don’t lead people on—you can make it clear there’s no friendship (whether it’s because you have nothing in common, you don’t vibe with them, or they just annoy you). After all, there’s a glow-up that comes with just not caring. Read @chelsiearia’s latest essay on the site now💫
A little party never killed anybody, right? In this hauntingly personal essay, Lauren Andrikanich reflects upon her party experiences from childhood to now, in the midst of a pandemic and a sense of losing herself. She writes, “The best time for parties is when you’re young, before you know that all the adults hate each other. Parties just don’t have the same feel to them after you’ve heard your mom’s best friend scream at your dad in the driveway of a costume party.” Read about it now on Lithium 🖤

Input your search keywords and press Enter.