Creative Director Edi Inderbitzin Creates “Every Waking Hour” Photo Project to Combat Depression

By Egotist / May 20, 2020 /

Creative director and photographer Edi Inderbitzin encourages people to appreciate the everyday, normal beauty in effort to fight teen depression.

At the beginning of 2019, Edi Inderbitzin started the project “Every Waking Hour.” The project was created with the intention to bring awareness to depression among young Americans caused by social media. By taking a photo literally every waking hour for a year, the hope was to spotlight the normal, “not curated” life and show that there is beauty in every waking moment if we are willing to take a closer look.

Now in 2020 while everyone is in quarantine, Inderbitzin decided it was time to inspire people to show their real “ordinary” lives vs. their Instagram curated lives. His project shows people how to find the beauty in the otherwise normal moments.

The project showcases 5091 photos that display Edi Inderbitzin’s life as a creative director in LA, and his travels to Mexico, Berlin, Hamburg, and Switzerland.

Between 2009 and 2017, rates of depression among kids ages 14 to 17 increased by more than 60% and in 2017, more than one in eight Americans ages 12 to 25 experienced a major depressive episode, a study found.

One seemingly obvious factor contributing to this disturbing increase is the prevalence of social media in our everyday lives. It’s no secret that social media has a tendency to gloss over real life and make others’ lives look unattainably perfect. With kids spending anywhere from six to nine hours a day on different platforms, surrounding themselves with these unachievable examples, it’s no wonder they’re feeling dissatisfied and depressed.

So what can we do to remind all of us that real life is just as beautiful as this fake, curated “perfection?”

The intention of this project is to show that greatness can be found in those moments that aren’t perfectly curated. The imperfect, raw and real moments lived in between the “Instagrammable moments” are beautiful and just as meaningful.