Tearjerking animation explores our unhealthy relationship with technology

Maybe it’s because it’s January and yesterday was officially the most suicidal day of the year, but something about this animation really threw me. It was something to do with the throbbing pain in my thumbs from playing too much Candy Crush Soda Saga (in bed, on the train, in the bath) and that numb-eyed sensation that comes from scrolling through Twitter like a dead person, and refreshing Facebook without even knowing I’m doing it. Technology, as much affection we have for it, is a barrage of information that we don’t know how to handle – and the amount of time we engage with it is spiralling out of control.

With that in mind, when someone can make a project, or a song, or a film about this unhealthy but addictive and necessary relationship and totally hit the nail on the head, it’s always worth a watch. Kingston graduate Doug Hindson has done just that with this un-showy animation about a man with a head full of worries, queries and contemplations about the role technology plays in his life. Even though he’s a wooden puppet with no facial features, the scenes in which he interacts with various and very familiar items of technology in his home are heartbreaking and scary. Lying in bed with someone and both of your faces lit up by screens is a classic, modern-day scene – but something in the way that Doug puts that across in this quiet, unassuming short with a truly excellent and funny script is tearjerkingly perfect.