In modern society, social media is an addictive way to access an unlimited amount of information. Quick access to this amount of information and the massive number of social connections it provides effects how we engage in our relationships. Access to social connections through text messaging and the continuously updated news feeds triggers an addictive release of dopamine to the brain.
Social Provocateurs is looking to explore societies relationship with social media and value of the connections and information that are shared within them. Our intended approach will be this by reverting the interaction paradigm back into the last millenium. Since the rise of phones and the internet, we’ve shifted away from text-based forms of communication such as letters and books, and started using technology to augment the communication of knowledge.
The scope of the project includes a rotary phone that connects user to Facebook, allowed users to use Messenger, browse Newsfeed and post status, and a telegraph key which user can send a tweet to Twitter by typing in morse code. Both device limit the efficiency of interaction, and provoke reflection on the value of the information if it requires multiple steps to access it. By taking the infinite amount of information available to us with up-to-date technologies and putting it into the older technologies, we hope to provoke a reflection on the value of social media in an individual's life, and the value of each individual bit of information that is provided to users.
