Brian Eno might be best known for his pioneering ambient oeuvre, but it turns out that beneath the calm exterior, the man has been battling a terrifying inner demon since the '90s. I refer, of course, to his crippling Photoshop addiction.
Eno published a series of diaries covering the year 1995, titled A Year with Swollen Appendices. The book covers a period during which, believe it or not, the artist was laid up with swollen appendices. And not only are they a fascinating insight into the musician's daily life, but the whole thing might as well have been sponsored by Adobe, so frequent are the references to Photoshop. We probably ought to be tapping Eno to write some Photoshop tutorials for us.
Brian Eno's diary entries on being being addicted to photoshop (1995) pic.twitter.com/fmQkWrWaQlMarch 12, 2024
"Too long playing with Photoshop - lethal time-waster - like chronic alcoholism. Should schedule it in the diary and not use it otherwise," reads one early entry. Another describes how he "wrecked the morning by resorting to Photoshop."
And it seems Photoshop speaks to the entirety of the human condition for Eno. While some Photoshop references are playful and even juvenile, ("enlarging bottoms, mostly"), they also take a turn for the existential: "My first Photoshop dream. I dreamed I was erasing my past in Photoshop, but it turned out that I was using the 'clone tool' - so instead of erasing I was just copying chunks of the past into the future."
In a world of addictive tech and 'brain rot', there's something delightfully nostalgic about the idea of a Photoshop addiction. It's certainly sounds like a far more creative use of time that doomscrolling. But if you do decide to check out the best Creative Cloud deals, please do remember to edit responsibly.
