It is as if you were on your phone
73 comments
·March 9, 2025pmarreck
halkony
This is excellent I loved this so much. I cant stop laughing.
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ciconia
Hilarious!
logikblok
Related by the same creator https://pippinbarr.com/itisasifyouweredoingwork/
More accessible on desktop.
ricardobeat
This is perfect. Especially the fact that 1) it never ends, and 2) you eventually figure out that the best way to get a promotion is not to be faster of more efficient but the exact opposite - delay ending the current task, and keep making it larger, until the next one comes along. Beautiful.
yard2010
The sounds made me feel like I live 1998 again. Surreal.
s1artibartfast
Just like a normal day in the office
nickdothutton
The stuff of nightmares.
multjoy
Thanks, I hate this
getnormality
Wow, I hated this experience within seconds. So I think it achieved its artistic aims.
because_789
Heh, I loved it within seconds. So relaxing while also so darkly funny. Everyone is a bit different I guess. I sent it to some of my art-biz friends.
flanbiscuit
Love this. Thank you. I'm eating lunch at the moment, by myself, in a local casual establishment, so of course I pulled out my phone and the first thing I looked at was HN and this was the top post. I started playing and couldn't help smiling. Felt like I was watching a robot mimicking me as it was studying human behavior.
It also got me thinking about what I would do before smart phones. During the dumb phone era I was still pulling out my phone to text a lot so wasn't too different, but I also read books a lot more back then
thierrydamiba
Agreed. This is amazing. Really awesome aha moment when you realize what’s going on.
I’m going to start reading physical books again.
Thank you.
Willingham
I love that it tells me when to scratch my ear. I am always confused about when I should be doing that. 11/10
mattgreenrocks
Is that the phone analog of your nose suddenly feeling itchy when playing music?
dnzm
"Swipe right" doesn't do anything for me (Fennec on Android).
furyofantares
You press Play Online to play. Swipe Right is just a (confusing) image on the page.
jeffhuys
Goes to show; you can check every box and try so hard, but still fail and lose lots of people on screen 1.
ddq
Swiping right on that image should definitely start the game.
olddustytrail
Actually, having a simple and straightforward instruction that you need to ignore and do something totally different instead... kind of sums up the modern computer UI.
stavros
For me, it just drags the image elsewhere.
AznHisoka
I tried swiping right 10 times like an idiot, thinking I didn’t swipe fast enough or something
fluidcruft
I tried swiping a bunch, figured it must not work in Firefox for Android, tried in Chrome only to find out it didn't swipe there, either.
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BolexNOLA
Same. Firefox iOS
throawayonthe
that's a screenshot, you have to click on the link to play
ludicrousdispla
is this supposed to work on desktop?
Wowfunhappy
Technically yes but absolutely not.
s1artibartfast
Yes, this is a multiplatform game/art experience.
knowknow
The worst part about this is that I immediately thought that it would be useful in awkward transitory moments. Everybody pulls out their phone on the bus, so you could fit in pretty well with this instead of staring outside.
teamspirit
What’s wrong with looking outside? I’m at the point where I treat my phone like it’s radioactive, actively trying to limit each encounter with it. I think we should all be staring out the window more often.
knowknow
The way the buses are laid out in my city is that the seats are directly facing each other. So staring outside could make it seem like your staring at people if it’s too crowded. So it’s more comfortable to pretend to use your phone.
alwa
That’s kind of the weird trap, isn’t it? That it feels like there’s normative social pressure to do your phone too, right at the moment that everyone who would notice you doing or not doing so has turned their attention elsewhere?
inopinatus
One of my hobbies when visiting London is smiling whilst taking the Tube somewhere. Oftentimes I am the only person in the carriage not wearing a glum or flat expression.
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jiveturkey
What's so awkward about that?
Do you also tip just because there's a line behind you and the self-service cashier tells you the machine "is going to ask you a question"?
noman-land
Just yell instead.
bmcahren
This is actually perfect for AI robots to blend in waiting in public. Just like bartenders polishing glasses, you can't have them just staring making people uncomfortable.
inopinatus
This was not a realistic simulation of my usage. My primary glassface activity is reading books. So it should be a continuous slow scroll with infrequent access of a burger menu. Fortunately I can simulate this by reading a book.
praptak
We need this on a device which is not a phone. It could be a simple mechanical device which presents the instructions on a slowly scrolling paper tape.
thinkingemote
It is good to be able to catch yourself or see yourself from another perspective. I liked it.
I wonder about the dopamine effect, could it be made even more boring?
furyofantares
You tricked me into meditating. Thanks, I love it.
amarant
I also found this weirdly meditative!
Almost made me worry: how much of a phone addict am I when I find this meditative?
larodi
Being non-present on a screen reminds of meditation but is more akin to dissociation and is really dreaming awake. It takes you away but you dream a weird dream which is not yours .
From the same creator (so funny):
https://pippinbarr.com/itisasifyouweremakinglove/