It seems more and more common every day that our social time is spent with a device in our hands rather than talking to each other face to face. After a year of Covid-19 it seems our connections are more digital than ever before.

Image credit: Tanya and Addison 2014

Eric Pickersgill, a US photographer recently created a photo series titled “Removed”. The series depicts portraits of people posed with their electronic devices removed from their hands. The series is meant to remind us how strange it is to sit on our devices in the company of others. Take away the devices and what do we look like? The reality is we look disconnected and oftentimes sad.

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In each portrait, electronic devices have been “edited out” (removed before the photo was taken, from people who’d been using them) so that people stare at their hands, or the empty space between their hands, often ignoring beautiful surroundings or opportunities for human connection. The results are a bit sad and eerie—and a reminder, perhaps, to put our phones away.

Photographer Removes Our Smartphones to Show Our Strange and Lonely New World