Inflating AddictionLien Tran

February 10, 2011

I Have Digital DramaMTV

Digital Addiction

“You’ll maybe get one or two good emails for every 20 or 30 bad ones…. So there will be some happy ping in there, and it turns out that that’s about the rate that a one-armed bandit at a slot machine will use to create the same kind of impulsive loop… at just the right frequency to keep you checking incessantly.”

- Douglas Rushkoff, Media Theorist

What kind of relationship can you have

if you’re totally committed to technology?

Designing for an Extreme

Target audience is digital addicts who choose digital connections over any real physical relationships.

They can’t sustain a real relationship because of their digital addiction.

Parasitic Objects

“… artifacts are sometimes symbiotic with humans, but at other times the relationship is parasitic, and the survival of the object is at the expense of its human host.

… our dependence on objects is not only physical but also, more important, psychological.”

- Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Why We Need Things

Lars and the Real Girl

Love Dolls

Accessories for Lonely ManNoam Toran

FunktionideStefan Ulrich

Air pump and release systemSnoozy the Sloth

Phone UsageJupiter Apps for Android

JudySystems Diagram

Juan: Digital AddictAlways on the Phone and/or Browsing the Internet, He Can’t Disconnect

Carmen: Digital Addict’s ExShe Could Never Connect… with Juan

Meet Judy, Juan’s True LoveShe’s the object of Juan’s Addiction… Affection

Virtually Deflated

Making Some Effort

Starting to Care

True Love Connection

Socializing Effect

“Through the conceptual model of behavior embodied in its functionality and operation, [the object] allows the user to participate in situations that encourage critical reflection on the socializing effect of our encounters with everyday electronic products.”

- Anthony Dunne on the Truth Phone

Strengths

Reflects on the social detriment facing digital addicts

Visualization of protagonist’s addiction

Weaknesses

Measuring digital connectedness should be more critical – more specific to situation during which user is digitally

connected

Exists in critical design space, but could the technology/design allow for real physical interactions between user and doll?