Inspired by the true story of a teenager battling screen addiction, Super Connected began as Tim Arnold’s 26th album before evolving into a feature film, theatre show and national initiative to raise awareness about the impact that screens and social media have on mental health.
Supported by Stephen Fry, Sophie Winkleman (Lady Frederick Windsor) and NHS Health Professionals for Safer Screens, The Tim Arnold Company offer practical activities at Super Connected events to help navigate digital life.
“If Super Connected has an overarching point, it’s that if our online lives are lived at the expense of our offline ones; if we’re excessively enmeshed by the influence of big tech, then our real-world connections and aspects of our sanity are at risk.”
– The Guardian ★★★★
“Tim has researched screen addiction and social media’s effects on mental health since 2017 with his study culminating in the critically acclaimed album, film and theatre show, Super Connected”
– Nihal Arthanayake, BBC 5 LIVE
“A unique piece about the lonliness of the digital landscape.” – The Times ★★★★
“A conceptual lyrical narrative taking aim at big tech’s insidious footprints on our lives” – Prog ★★★★
“On this excellent, consciousness-raising album and film it’s powerful and idiosyncratic enough that listeners might reconsider how they interact with tech” – We Are Cult ★★★★
Story
The lives of a London family-of-four are aggressively co-opted by the internet (the title-track is sung from the viewpoint of the screen-addicted, bedroom-bound teenage daughter) while a sinister surveillance organisation, Picture Sounds, harvests data in order to target the susceptible with its latest invention – a diabolical piece of wearable tech called the iHead.
‘Picture Sounds’ are by spoken-word “advert” passages from Stephen Fry and one glorious behemoth of a rock song, The Complete Solution, with lyrics that sum up big tech’s silent assault on the bond between families.
Super Connected is best experienced, if you can, as a live event in which the film is screened while Arnold performs the songs live. The music works on its own, as does the film. Together, it is a unique and breathtaking experience. Live Dates.
by Charles Donovan (Originally published in We Are Cult)
For private screenings and album playbacks, join here.