Snapshots of East London’s Evolving Public Spaces

This candid moment inside an underground carriage was captured as I was sitting down, looking up, and about to alight at Whitechapel station. The two men appear detached from their surroundings, both looking down at their smartphones. Even though people are physically close in a crowded space, they are mentally elsewhere, reflecting a common modern phenomenon: digital absorption in public spaces.

When I first started travelling on the Underground in 1982, passengers would read newspapers or books. Generally, people would avoid eye contact, stare at the advertising, or have a snooze. Visitors from outside London often find this behaviour a bit strange. It’s certainly different from travelling on a bus in Liverpool.

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