Techknotopia (CM)
There is a gaming plane that exists called Techknotopia. All the Alice in Wonderland characters are stuck there in an endless plane of red and white checks. These check patterns distort like an MC Escher work. They are in a Labyrinth without walls. Throw in the most addictive games of our day. The characters are hooked. The twins are battling. The Mad Hatters tea party is on top of a giant I Phone. The lines of the original series Through the looking glass and Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll are the back drop suspended in text on tablets. Thus the sick world of Techknotopia is unveiled. Alice wants to free the souls but becomes hooked herself……
This series is mirror to the youth of our generation. The gaming addicted kids and young adults that have meltdowns when their technology is taken away. They game endlessly until exhaustion and sometimes death just to make a new level. They hibernate and get sick from the lack of human contact refusing to be educated and would rather stay addicted. The digital self becoming more real than reality. Being unable to help these people and frankly they don’t want help. They can’t see an issue with their habits, in 2009 Science Daily estimated that one in ten gamers is addicted and this addiction is one that rises to the level of pathological addiction. Elsewhere studies estimate that 10 percent to 15 percent of gamers exhibit signs that meet the World Health Organization’s criteria for addiction. What is the medical definition of addiction in gaming according the the world health organisation?
An addiction must meet at least 3 of the following criteria. This is based on the criteria of the American Psychiatric Association (DSM-IV) and World Health Organization (ICD-10).(1)
1. Tolerance. Do you game more over time?
2. Withdrawal. Have you experienced physical or emotional withdrawal when you have stopped using? Have you experienced anxiety, irritability, shakes, sweats, nausea, or vomiting? Emotional withdrawal is just as significant as physical withdrawal.
3. Limited control. Do you sometimes game more than you would like? Do you ever regret how much you gamed the day before?
4. Negative consequences. Have you continued to use games though there have been negative consequences to your mood, self-esteem, health, job, school attendance or family?
5. Neglected or postponed activities. Have you ever put off or reduced social, recreational, work,School attendance or household activities because of your gaming?
6. Significant time or energy spent. Have you spent a significant amount of time obtaining, using, concealing, planning, or recovering from your gaming? Have you spend a lot of time thinking about gaming? Have you ever concealed or minimized your gaming? Have you ever thought of schemes to avoid getting caught?
7. Desire to cut down. Have you sometimes thought about cutting down or controlling your use of gaming? Have you ever made unsuccessful attempts to cut down or control your use of gaming?
Like any addiction the cycle can be broken!?! How with this much technology, time and nonsensical lyrical prose in a parallel plane will Alice be able to free the rest of the tribe from the horrors of Techknotopia? Can she crack the code and free the Unicorn and Lion?
” If you know Time as well as i do” said the Hatter ” you wouldn’t talk about wasting it….. Extract from the Mad Hatters Tea Party in Alice in Wonderland. Found the the painting Time signatures of the desperate in Techknotipia (2013)