THE FIRTS FICTIONAL WORLD

The first speculative world of Cancel·lat begins with a pressing yet often overlooked issue: our growing addiction to smartphones and social media. Although deeply normalized in today’s society, this dependency is quietly reshaping how we relate to ourselves, to others, and to the world around us.

This constant hyperconnection affects not only our attention span and mental focus, but also distorts human relationships, self-perception, emotional regulation, and our experience of time. The promise of endless connectivity often results in deeper disconnection; from nature, from physical space, and from inner awareness. Notifications, dopamine feedback loops, algorithmic feeds, and overstimulation have created a new kind of invisible addiction, one that fragments reality and places our nervous systems in a permanent state of alert.

This fictional world amplifies and distorts these conditions to explore what kind of future might emerge if these patterns continue unchecked. It’s not a technophobic critique, but rather a critical reflection on what happens when technology is designed without care or intention, when it colonizes our attention, emotions, and behaviors.

Through the lens of design fiction, this first world surfaces the emotional and societal costs of a digital environment that constantly demands our presence while eroding our ability to be present. This is the context from which the world unfolds, the details of which will be revealed later in the narrative.

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