'Removed' Photo Series By Eric Pickersgill Shows How Obsessed We Are With Our Cell Phones

In his series 'Removed' photographer Eric Pickersgill reveals how deeply addicted we all are to our cell phones. Let's be honest, most of us spend a large part of our days staring at our phones. On the commute to and from work, at lunch, dinner, second-screening in front of the TV or laptop at night, in bed—anywhere really.

But, we're all so used to it and used to seeing people staring at a glass screen. However, if you ever wondered how that might look to someone completely removed from our culture—or what it must look like to small children who are just beginning to learn about the world—look no further than this series of photos.

In short Eric Pickersgill's 'Removed' series is basically a damning indictment on us all, revealing the braindead, glassy-eyed gaze that washes over us as we become entranced by the contraption in our hands. Which, once removed, just makes us all look weird. Social gatherings become unsocial gatherings, couples become isolated, and what should be sharing family time becomes people staring into separate worlds.

It's like some dystopian nightmare.

Photographer Eric Pickersgill Talks About 'Removed'

Writing about the project Pickersgill says:

The joining of people to devices has been rapid and unalterable. The application of the personal device in daily life has made tasks take less time. Far away places and people feel closer than ever before. Despite the obvious benefits that these advances in technology have contributed to society, the social and physical implications are slowly revealing themselves. In similar ways that photography transformed the lived experience into the photographable, performable, and reproducible experience, personal devices are shifting behaviors while simultaneously blending into the landscape by taking form as being one with the body. This phantom limb is used as a way of signaling busyness and unapproachability to strangers while existing as an addictive force that promotes the splitting of attention between those who are physically with you and those who are not.

Check out some of Eric Pickersgill's 'Removed' photo series below and head to his website for more.