LEAVING THE CAVE - END OF 365 DAYS
Ending the Views from the Cave Experiment
A 365-Day Social Media Art Project
After 365 days of abstract videos, images, comments, and reflection, David Deighton brought Views from the Cave to an end on Instagram.
The project evolved into an extended investigation into social media culture, political polarization, digital perception, and the emotional effects of algorithm-driven environments.
Shadow Banning and Digital Echo Chambers
Algorithms, Visibility, and Online Restriction
Throughout the project, the account experienced repeated periods of reduced visibility commonly referred to as shadow banning.
Attempts to engage with audiences outside expected social and ideological groups often appeared to trigger algorithmic restrictions and reduced reach.
Social Media and Group Containment
The experience revealed how digital platforms can reinforce in-group behavior by limiting interaction across professional, political, and cultural boundaries.
The project anticipated growing public discussion surrounding echo chambers, algorithmic filtering, and online polarization.
Plato’s Cave and Contemporary Platforms
Digital Environments as Modern Caves
Within Views from the Cave, social media platforms increasingly came to resemble contemporary versions of Plato’s cave:
enclosed systems where perception is shaped through repetition, visibility, and controlled informational flows.
Exiting the Cave
The conclusion of the project marked not simply the end of a digital experiment, but a personal departure from immersive online environments.
Leaving the platform became symbolic of leaving the cave itself.
From Online Interaction to Public Dialogue
Beyond Screens and Digital Distance
The project ultimately revealed the limitations of mediated communication and the necessity of direct, face-to-face engagement.
The Origins of Triptych Dialogue
Following the conclusion of Views from the Cave, David Deighton began engaging strangers in U.S. National Parks through three non-confrontational political questions designed to encourage active listening and civil dialogue.
The first encounters took place in Yellowstone National Park.
Active Listening and Human Presence
Conversation Without Digital Filters
The transition from online interaction to in-person dialogue shifted the focus of the work toward presence, listening, emotional understanding, and shared human experience.
A New Artistic Direction
What began as an investigation into digital perception evolved into a participatory practice centered on communication, civic space, and human connection across difference.
A new journey began.
Related Projects:
Views from the Cave
Explore the larger experimental media project examining digital perception, political polarization, and Plato’s Allegory of the Cave.
Dialogue Recordings
Discover face-to-face public conversations developed through active listening, presence, and participatory dialogue.
Active Listening Across Political Division
Explore how attentive listening and emotional restraint emerged as responses to polarization and digital fragmentation.
National Park Installations
View public art interventions and participatory dialogue works developed within civic spaces across U.S. National Parks.
Dialogue Through 3 Political Questions
Discover the three-question framework used to encourage respectful political exchange without confrontation.
Pinhole Project
Explore sensory participatory books inviting awareness, slowness, reflection, and reconnection beyond digital environments.