Joseph King-Smith 20/05/2025 Joseph King-Smith 20/05/2025

At Home with the Critters

It got me wondering whether there will be a time when a common deathbed regret will be that the dying hadn’t spent enough time on Instagram during their life.

Here is something John Berger wrote in Ways of Seeing, published over 50 years ago:

“In the cities in which we live, all of us see hundreds of publicity images every day of our lives. No other kind of image confronts us so frequently. In no other form of society in history has there been such a concentration of images, such a density of visual messages. One may remember or forget these messages but briefly one takes them in, and for a moment they stimulate the imagination by way of either memory or expectation.”

The number of meticulously crafted images the city-dweller viewed daily in the 1970s must be dwarfed by the quantity of images and short videos consumed by most social media users today. Exactly what the long-term consequences of this bombardment will be is unclear, but it must be having an impact on our brains as we scroll from image to image, video to video without even really noticing.

I wince when I hear people say they were “doom scrolling” for a couple of hours before bed. The word ‘doom’ here is apt as it suggests we know it must be harmful, but we do it anyway. The sharpest minds in tech have, for decades now, dedicated their working lives to making it rewarding and, ultimately, addictive to behave like this. The algorithms they design every day learn what we like to look at and then drip-feed doses of it to us, ensuring we always go back for more.

In an article from 2022 on the University of Bath’s website titled “Social Media Break Improves Mental Health – New Study” Dr Jeff Lambert, a lead researcher at the university’s Department for Health, is quoted as saying: “Of course, social media is a part of life and for many people, it’s an indispensable part of who they are.”

It got me wondering whether there will be a time when a common deathbed regret will be that the dying hadn’t spent enough time on TikTok during their life. Or whether we will soon start hearing of people who cried out with their last breath for the nurse to check their DMs one last time. Let’s hope not.

***Do Not Feed the Ducks*** (2025) acrylic on cradled wooden panel

I have to remind myself sometimes that there are adults now who have never known a world without social media. Updating friends and strangers alike with their personal news, activities and travel plans must seem as harmless as having a morning coffee. One very wealthy Instagram influencer had over £10 million worth of jewellery and handbags stolen from her home in Primrose Hill last year, while she was on holiday. Several of the items stolen had been flaunted by her on Instagram previously and her account has since gone private.

On platforms like YouTube (which, to be fair, can be a great source of free information) many channels seem to choose short term views and likes over long term credibility. The latter is perhaps not attractive because it doesn't pay the rent this month, but it does build the channels’ reputation and help foster trust in the content.

Titles to videos on YouTube like: “Future you WILL REGRET Not Watching This!!” presumably attract a certain cohort of people who frantically right click the thumbnail, fearing their life will end if they don’t. It was the title of a video uploaded by one of the most popular podcasters on YouTube in the last month whose channel has nearly 10.5 million subscribers. It’s obvious they know what drives engagement but I try not to feed the monster and yield to blatant clickbait. GO ME!

For the last couple of years, I have reduced the time I spend on social media to the point where I now just use it to promote items hosted on this website. I like the indirectness of the relationship as opposed to creating posts specifically optimised for Instagram or Facebook. I gradually realised that instead of wanting to create, as I always have, I started feeling that I should create. Perhaps more concerning is that the platforms seemed to have power over what and when I posted. it was the master and I the servant. It was sucking the soul out of my creativity.

I view a website differently in that it enables you to curate a wider space for your own creativity, which (in the context of the rest of your public work) gives a richer sense of what interests you.

Toe

Joseph King-Smith 03/05/2025 Joseph King-Smith 03/05/2025

Water Break

This is my first foray into recording my own spoken word in nearly two decades of producing music.

This is my first foray into recording my own spoken word in nearly two decades of producing music. I have been writing lines of poetry for years but until now have never made anything public. Some of the sounds used (around a minute through) are the knocks and bangs of me putting away my shopping in the kitchen one Sunday afternoon, recorded using a potato….ahem… I mean dictaphone.

Image: Do Not Feed The Ducks (2025)