Connected Isolation

The moment I started commuting to London, I began to isolate myself for the entire journey. I plugged my headphones in and buried my head into a book. Why would I want to hear people coughing, sneezing or shouting a conversation down the phone. Also why would I want to stare vacantly out the window just to avoid eye contact and the thought that a stranger might think I’m looking at them. So like a lot of people I disconnected myself and created my own little bubble, amused and distracted from those around me. For me commuting began 15 years ago when trains were hot and uncomfortable in summer, cold and wet in winter, but always overcrowded. I rarely found a seat. Needless to say, commuter trains have never been a joyous place where social interactivity thrived. Now, trains are hot in winter with heat blasting out around your feet and freezing in summer with air con chilling us to our bones. They are still overcrowded and there is still no joy. For the vast majority, the book has been replaced with social media on our smart devices. Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. We are no longer purely disconnecting ourselves from the real people around us to make our journeys more bearable, but reaching out and connecting to the digital world. Connecting to the edited and controlled profiles of the people we ‘follow’. So for 15 years, twice a day I have been enduring the routine monotony of commuting in to London for work. Averaging about an hour each way, that’s about 7200 hours. For the last year I have been taking candid portraits of my fellow commuters. Photography for me has always been a way to connect to the world around me and document it. This collection of images are a reflection of both self and society. In a place so densely packed with people all connected to the Internet, social media and the world, are we more isolated than ever?