Virtual space, including friendships there, does not fully replace that real live human interaction we get in real world spaces. More and more studies are finding this out, and people are reacting to it, often on social media.
graphic designer Shimi Cohen, based in Tel Aviv, has provided “a fresh and subtly soul-wrenching reminder of the way our screens can become cells of solitary confinement.”
The animation was Cohen’s senior project at Shenkar College of Engineering and Design. Based in part on MIT professor Sherry Turkle’s book Alone Together and Yair Amichai-Hamburger’s article “The Invention of Being Lonely,” inspiration also came from a personal place. “Like many others,” Cohen tells Co.Design, “I became addicted to socializing through my phone and social media. This started to bother me and intrigue me at the same time.”
Discovered at Co.Design.
This is a wonderful and simple reminder to get off the computer from time to time and actually go interact outside with real people.
Related articles
- The Innovation of Loneliness: short film based on Sherry Turkle book ‘Alone Together’ (boingboing.net)
- The Innovation of Loneliness from Shimi Cohen (theradicaluprise.wordpress.com)
- New Animation Explains Sherry Turkle’s Theories on Why Social Media Makes Us Lonely (openculture.com)
- Do Social Networks Make Us More Lonely? (mediabistro.com)
- Social Networking: Making the World a Lonelier Place Every Day (ucsc.uloop.com)
Mental Flowers 