In the Apple TV+ series Severance, first shown in February 2022, employees of Lumon Industries undergo “a procedure that splits a person’s memories between work and their personal life.” At work the “innie” has “no knowledge of the outside world.” At home the “outie” lives “without any knowledge of their job.”
The creator, Dan Erickson, got the idea while working at a door factory. He wished he could “skip the eight hours of the workday, to disassociate and just get it over with.” In 2025 the series became the most watched in the history of Apple TV+.