Lottery of Likes

slot machine robot with a heart for an activation button, reels that show angry face emojis, and coins that are sad face emojis spilling out — Gwenn Seemel
*Lottery of Likes*
2023
acrylic on panel
18 x 14 inches

What does this robot want to tell you? What does the exclamation point mean? Why are there sad-face emojis spilling out?

The slot machine of social media gambles with our emotions, with our hearts as the activation button. The reels land all too often on angry-face emojis and the coins that spill out are almost always the currency of sadness, and that’s why I deleted all my corporate social media profiles. Sometimes I still miss the way these apps made me feel—or, rather, I miss the way my friends made me feel when the apps combined and presented their feedback as pleasing numbers of likes. Mostly though, I don’t know how I’d ever find the time to use social media, now that I’ve filled my life with other things.

Can you list the ways social media affects your mind and body? What would it be like to give up these apps for a week? A month? A year?

You can watch the making of this robot painting.