Are You Lost In The World Like Me?

Moby’s song “Are You Lost in the World Like Me?”—released in October 2016 with The Void Pacific Choir on the album These Systems Are Failing—is a high-energy synth-rock track paired with a viral animated music video by Steve Cutts. It critiques modern technology addiction, digital isolation, and the emotional numbness caused by constant smartphone use.

• Existential Isolation: The core refrain, “Are you lost in the world like me?”, cuts through digital noise to ask a basic human question about loneliness and confusion in a complex modern era.
• Apocalyptic Imagery: Lines like “Black days and a dying sun” and “If the systems fail, are you free?” link personal alienation to systemic, societal collapse.
• Critique of Progress: Moby’s accompanying album manifesto argues that humanity builds great technological and industrial systems to protect itself, but these same systems have instead disconnected people from nature and each other, leaving us more miserable.

The accompanying Steve Cutts Music Video perfectly captures the intent of the song, and the mood of how smartphone and technology addiction makes us all feel and behave:

• Retro Animation Style: Animated in a stark black-and-white 1930s Max Fleischer/rubber-hose cartoon style, creating a jarring contrast with its deeply modern subject matter.
• Desensitization and “Phone Zombies”: Citizens are glued to their devices, filming tragedies (like someone jumping or being assaulted) for online views or “likes” rather than helping, illustrating total social apathy.
• The Outsider: A small child wearing a superhero cape remains uninfected by the smartphone zombie-state, symbolizing lost innocence, authentic human connection, and a stark refusal to abdicate reality to a screen.

Steve Cutts is an activist, illustrator and animator based in London, England. His artwork satirises the excesses of modern society – well worth a look.