Zoom Out before it's too late

Apr 13, 2025

I like work I don’t immediately understand; imagine walking through a gallery and looking at each piece… yep, nice, ok, got it, yes.

If everything made sense the first time, art would be dead. With Jon T’s contribution to Digital Minds Collide, I feel I got an insight... which was the point of this project. How do people perceive digital life, how do they reflect on it creatively? We want to see the ‘how’.

With Zoom Out I don’t mind sharing: first time, it went over my head — that’s on me because, like you, I’m not fully paying attention... skimming content, expecting it to work for me.

A content wave so thick I’ll never emerge from the other side. No break to look back at our once safe shore.

Digital attention drain.

Are you paying attention? The content creators have a message for you…

Second time: ok, I like this, I think I spotted something here (Jon T hadn’t told me about it at this point).

Third time, penny starts to drop (in some places) and I pick up their explainer…. ah…ok.

Then I went back. And I’m going back again, to see what I can find.

Ah, the Scanners (1981) film textures.

And I start writing. A creative bounce off one node, from another.

But before my rambles, here’s Jon T:

Jon T Explainer

It’s a digital myth about content creators who became so consumed by their worlds that they lose all connection to reality — and themselves — in a beautiful, grotesque collapse of perception, memory, and meaning.

Digital Minds Collide 06

Zoom Out

I write on a tangent, a separate piece about influencers, who I call influenzas, as if they have some digital mind virus…(coming soon).

Then decide: You know, you don’t need my take on this piece.

In the same way this project isn’t just writing about digital culture, it’s about how people reflect on it. So, it’s over to you. Go play. See what you find. Ignore everything I said, but maybe leave your thoughts behind...

Join the content creators. It’s too late to save them. Just be sure to zoom out to save yourselves.

Full vid from this weird embed: Click Listen now

Or here: Zoom Out by JonT