“Killing rhythms” is a concept introduced by Fred Moten and Stefano Harney in their 2013 book The Undercommons: Fugitive Planning & Black Study. They describe it as a normative and systematic temporal structure of capitalist, settler-colonial society—one that enforces productivity, discipline, and exclusion.
Based on this concept, my group and I decided to examine systems that we believe reinforce similar patterns. Each of us identified a system that excludes people with disabilities or those who face struggles.
For my contribution to this group, I identified two different systems that operate within the framework of killing rhythms, as described by Moten and Harney.
First, I examined the corporate workspace, where disabilities are often overlooked. Fast-paced corporate environments fail to account for employees who may struggle with meeting targets or handling intricate workloads under strict time constraints. To address this, I proposed a system that would allow individuals to express when they are struggling with their workload.
Second, I explored creative fields, which, while similar to corporate environments, present an additional challenge: the demand for rapid yet innovative output. While meeting deadlines is already difficult for many, individuals with disabilities may face even greater obstacles in reaching creative expectations. As a potential intervention, I considered how identifying and working with alternative rhythms could make creative workspaces more inclusive.
After discussing our ideas as a group, we ultimately decided to pursue my classmate’s idea of portraying capitalism through autoplay. We felt this concept effectively represented the killing rhythm system.
For this project, each of us was tasked with generating two ideas for interventions. One of my ideas was to create a browser plug-in that would help users limit their intake of autoplay content. Its goal was to remind individuals that they have the agency to stop consuming media, rather than being drawn into an endless cycle of passive viewing.
To refine this idea, I spoke to my friends and peers about their own media consumption habits and how autoplay affects their daily lives. Through these discussions, we realized that users are more likely to ignore pop-ups that resemble the platform’s original design, as they tend to blend into the interface. This insight led me to consider creating pop-ups that break the expected visual pattern, introducing randomness to keep viewers more engaged and aware of their consumption.
Another aspect we discussed was the tone of these pop-ups. While a fully professional tone was an option, we also considered incorporating a variety of tones—some playful, some direct—to better capture users’ attention and prompt them to reflect on their viewing habits.
For this project, each of us created roughly seven pop-ups, which we then compiled into a short film simulating how the plug-in would work. We incorporated all our ideas into this film and presented it to the class on Tuesday.
Following the feedback of my tutor and peers, my team and me decided to create a few more pieces of media that would accompany this project. I took it upon myself to create a faux bank statement that would be sent to individuals in order to bring awareness to their screen use.
Harris, T. (2016) ‘How technology hijacks people’s minds’, Medium. Available at: https://medium.com/thrive-global/how-technology-hijacks-peoples-minds-from-a-magician-and-google-s-design-ethicist-56d62ef5edf3
Zhou, M. (2016) Fragmented time. Available at: https://www.behance.net/gallery/45820185/Fragmented-Time
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The A11Y Project (2022) ‘Never use auto-play’, The A11Y Project. Available at: https://www.a11yproject.com/posts/never-use-auto-play/