I went to sleep thinking about physical examples of forced interactivity, not so much metaphorical but more literal interpretations. I woke up thinking about mazes. Once inside the maze the subject has very little choice but to continue searching for the end, or die trying. Unless they're as smart as Theseus turning back is not an option, and they cannot simply switch off, they're committed. Stuck in a God-forsaken Labyrinth. They must continue. Our Postmodern society is stuck in a maze of media. Without these artificial extentions of ourselves we are cut-off from the world, we are lost. As every imaginable form of media increasingly appropriates itself in our lifestyles. We are obligated to interact with it constanly.
With the movement to digital media, the all-encompasing nature of it forces the consumer to engage, and dupes the user into interaction by alluding to control. But it is this very vastness of choice that traps us.
"With over 300 channels there's got to be something on."
And yet before you know it you've wasted 30 minutes idly channel hopping. We have structured options that demand attention, time and effort. There are indeed worthy incentives to attach ourselves to this media; communication, entertatinment, and information. But the devices and services that allow and realise these possibilites are necessitating themselves so much that society cannot do without them, we rely on them every minute of our waking life, and often more. What would we do without our Blackberries, Tom Toms and Wikipedia? Unless we have a digital copy of Ariadne's ball of string society is lost. We wander deeper and deeper into the maze of media, an electronic Labyrinth we have created for ourselves.
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