A View, From a Bridge is the social media sensation where strangers reveal all on an old, red phone

In the 1870s, when inventor Alexander Graham Bell was hard at work developing the telephone, his research partner Thomas Watson was investigating whether this radical new technology could be used to contact the dead. He was unsuccessful – but the ability of the telephone to connect those who would otherwise remain forever disconnected survives. In the hands of Joe Bloom, creator of Instagram account A View, From a Bridge, a red, retro phone handset cuts through the impersonal noise of the internet as people share intimate meditations on their lives and the world.

“I felt we were missing an internet show that really focused on an individual, rather than focusing on the person presenting the show,” says Bloom. “I remember amazing projects from the earlier internet – Humans of New York is a really obvious one – where it was really all about the subjects, and I wanted to find a way of breathing that back into the modern form of video.”

The telephone is a vital component. “I guess it just makes someone feel like they’re talking to a friend or a relative, and it’s nostalgic, isn’t it? And it doesn’t feel like you’re watching someone being interviewed. It feels like you’re having a conversation.”

Read more:

• How social media has changed our world
• ‘We get sick, Meta get rich’: Why the ‘guinea pig generation’ wants Labour to tax social media giants
• Is TikTok’s ‘Sleepmaxxing’ trend yet another wellness fad – or is it glorifying SAD?

This emerges from the production process. Musings are drawn from “a natural two-way conversation that goes on many tangents. Often, we start with a talking point and then just see where that exploration takes us, and it’s always surprising.”

Bloom is careful to keep the conversations rooted in humanity over ideology. “The most important thing for us is that every story has to be backed by lived experience. A lot of people want to come on and sort of say big statements because they really care about the message behind the statement, and that’s cool, but anyone can do that. We all know the opinions of the right, the left, the centre. But it’s about understanding what births those opinions.”

As the videos progress, the camera zooms out, layering the subjects’ voices over their surroundings. “It sets the person really in their context, and it doesn’t take away from the story – actually, every second you’re adding to it, because their relevance in their context and the sense of them being a person in a time and place in history is bolstered.”

Among his most recent participants is our colleague, Carnaby Street Big Issue vendor André Rostant, 60, who describes how, 12 years ago, “domestic circumstances” made him and his children homeless, leading to him selling Big Issue, which he describes as “empowering”, in contrast to the “soul- destroying” effects of begging.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by A View, from a bridge (@aview.fromabridge)

He addresses hidden homelessness and its causes, such as domestic abuse, and the “invisibility cloak” of poverty: he often sees people’s “eyes glaze” as they pass him, and has first-hand experience of how marginalised people can be transformed into “a safe object of hate”. 

“Growing up in London, there were always Big Issue vendors around, so I was thinking, you know, this is quite an important part of the structure of our city,” Bloom says. “A Big Issue vendor is such an observer, but I thought it’d be really interesting to not only get a vendor’s perspective on homelessness, but also just to talk to them. I thought, how often do these people get to really be platformed and have a voice?”

But he also worried about the ethics of asking someone to talk about a difficult experience. “When it’s someone who I’ve got no clue what they’re going to say and they go down that route and it’s all been their choice, I’m actually just being a vessel to them, so it’s not fetishising, it’s platforming something that someone naturally wants to talk about. That’s really cool, to be able to do that. But when you approach someone who is more vulnerable and want them to talk about those vulnerabilities, that’s where it can get a bit messy.”

Rostant was the perfect candidate – frank and honest about his challenging experiences, but also defiant and eloquent in his presentation of his own humanity. “I’m definitely anticipating comments like, ‘This guy can definitely get himself off the street. It’s a lifestyle choice,’ because he’s a smart guy,” Bloom says. “But you truly never know what’s going on in someone’s head.”

He is now working on a podcast to host longer conversations. But in the meantime, he has a message for Rostant: “Thanks for giving us your precious time and for opening up in the way that you did, because it’s your life, and it’s very generous to let people in like you did. It wasn’t just another day in the office for us. We really value your time and bravery.”

Watch André’s View, From a Bridge.

Do you have a story to tell or opinions to share about this? Get in touch and tell us more. Big Issue exists to give homeless and marginalised people the opportunity to earn an income. To support our work buy a copy of the magazine or get the app from the App Store or Google Play