This Twitter Doomscrolling Monitor Is Both Fantastic And Terrible

The world of consumer electronics can occasionally be a little too specific with usage scenarios in mind, and the latest example of it is the Elsonic EK-MD088 monitor. It looks more like a super-tall candy bar display tailor-made for one task only: doomscrolling on Twitter. For the unaware, the habit of compulsively scrolling through a social media feed (or the internet, in general) looking for more interesting (or in some cases, distressing) content has been given the name doomscrolling.

It sounds like a bad word, and does have a detrimental effect if the content one comes across is not really ‘healthy,’ with the likes of Facebook and Twitter serving as the best examples. Unfortunately, social media companies actually reward such behavior with their engagement-loving algorithm that keeps users glued to their screens. Facebook, for example, reportedly knew that over 350 million users on the platform exhibited problematic usage that is borderline addiction.

But social media feeds aren’t always a rotten mess of bad opinions, especially for folks who consume news from Twitter, Facebook, or even sub-Reddits. And for that audience, there is now a debatably revolutionary product called the Elsonic EK-MD088. Terrible naming aside, the device is a monitor made by a Japanese company named Nojima under its Elsonic sub-brand. As is evident from the pictures, this monitor is meant specifically for getting an endless dose of social media feeds. For folks who find Twitter threads engaging, this monitor can be the best holiday self-gift, and it only needs as much table space as a bottle of water. But for netizens who are already worried about social media being distracting and sucking too much of their time as well as energy, this candy bar monitor is bad news.

A Monitor That Loves Social Media Feeds

The Elsonic EK-MD088 offers an 8.8-inch display with an extremely tall 7:32 aspect ratio, while the resolution measures 420×1920 pixels. Imagine the Sony Xperia Pro-I, but stretched a lot more to make a monitor. The pixel density falls somewhere around 223 pixels per inch, which is by no means eye-popping, but sharp enough to read some terrible takes on social media in all their glory. The product listing specifically mentions Twitter, Line, and web surfing as the ideal usage scenario. But depending on browser and system compatibility, this monitor would also be great for taking a peek at WhatsApp or other instant messaging platforms that have hundreds of millions of regular active users, especially in Asia. An extra window to keep an eye on social media or messages eats up precious screen real estate, but the Elsonic EK-MD088 will solve that. Plus, it looks undeniably cool.

The monitor can be used in horizontal orientation too, but content scaling will provide a terrible user experience, especially with a vertical height of just 420 pixels. But there are some other odd limitations too. The monitor derives power via its USB-C port, while data input needs the Mini-HDMI port. Not all laptops out there, especially the thin and light ones, offer a Mini-HDMI port. Apple brought it back from the slumber this year on its new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro but doesn’t offer it on the thin MacBook Air for obvious reasons. So, buying the Elsonic EK-MD088 would also mean investing in a USB hub and some cables as well. The price of this Twitter-loving monitor has been set at JPY 14,800 (roughly $130), but good luck finding it anywhere outside Japan once it hits the shelves in February next year.

Source: Nojima

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