08 - Overdose, 2025

Denis Verdier  

In this collection, I seek to explore the relationship between nature and technology. Year after year, I've observed one increasingly encroaching upon the other. So I wanted to revisit each memory where technology entered my life, for better or for worse. From MP3 players to flip phones, from laptops to smartphones: ten canvases, ten personal accounts. Here is the one for this painting:

You've seen it coming from the start, and maybe you even feel it too: enough is enough. It's the onset of overdose. Personally, for a few years now, ever since I saw my daughter acting out scenes with a phone, I've been battling with my screen time. On the one hand, I have a responsibility to set a good example: whenever I'm with her, I forbid myself from using my phone for anything other than essential tasks (music, GPS, etc.). On the other hand, Instagram is eating away at my brain every time I open it. I've had this feeling for a while now: that social media has figured it all out, they've figured out how to hack my brain. Every time I step on Instagram to look for information or reply to a message, I inevitably end up in the feed and scroll endlessly. Like an addict... It's a horrible feeling when you realize it. Tired of having my brain lobotomized, I started taking action: limiting apps natively, then using a specialized app, switching to black and white, detoxing, etc. Nothing worked; my cognitive biases were stronger and demanded their fix. My last resort was to simply delete Instagram from my phone (the only app that's problematic for me; I don't use TikTok, for example). Deleting Instagram was liberating. Even more so than I imagined. I regained incredible mental clarity; I read three books in one go because I had so much mental space! You have to break free from this vicious cycle to realize it.