Tether
(On-going)
Major project at CSM
©2026
Cognitive alienation is the subtle detachment from our own thoughts that occurs when technology and habit colonize our attention. It is the erosion of everyday presence driven by constant digital interruption and environmental overload.
Just as Marx argued that industrial capitalism alienates workers from the product of their labor, cognitive alienation reveals how the attention economy estranges us from the process of our own thinking.
Tether reveals the invisible mechanics of cognitive alienation by sonifying the hidden pressures of the attention economy, specifically the urge to rush, fidget, or drift, the project exposes how our environment forces us into an "autopilot dwelling of life".
Ultimately, it uncovers the fragility of spontaneous thought, demonstrating that without urgent, embodied pauses, our capacity for deep reflection and presence is eroded by the constant demand for productivity and connection.
Project so far
Tether is an on-going final thesis project. The foundation of primary and secondary research, probing, experimentation and initial ideation has been laid out. The project is now in the process of more discoveries from experimentation, embodied design, rituals and user centric approach.
The project was imagined as an artifactual intervention to reveal cognitive alienation as a wearable device for the post graduate work in progress show at CSM.