Human Interaction and Screens
Can we get off our screens, and interact with each other?
As my group whittles down how we want to tackle people’s moods in spaces, we have come across a few common themes.
People, whether young, middle aged, or senior, all express discontent with how often they feel uncomfortable in communal spaces. To tackle this discomfort, they often depend on their mobile phone as a security blanket.
What about a space makes people feel like they have to stare at their screens? And how can we bring people together in a way that sparks joy?
We looked at a company in China that approached this feeling of communal disenchantment in an inventive way. With this hot pot company, in order to heat up the pot, you have to place your phone on the surface below. The physical weight of your phone brings up the temperature of the device, and removing your phone (say, to check a message), reduces the heat.
While we will not be redesigning communal eating per say, the idea of needing to use your mobile device in order to create an interactive experience is a compelling one.
In a world of individual screens, it will become increasingly important to know how and when to design for a purposeful lack of screens.
We want to avoid the common trope of guilting people for using mobile devices, hence incorporating the physical device. However, we want to bring awareness to that fine line of when your phone is a powerful connection device vs. when it negatively reduces human interaction.
