Human beings are hard-wired for connection and belonging. Yet, research shows that people are feeling more lonely than ever before, with higher negative impacts on our health than obesity, smoking and excessive drinking. The design of social media (e.g. Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter) is one contributing factor, engaging us in constant comparison with others’ “picture-perfect” lives, and leading us to feel even more isolated and alone in our daily challenges.  Research shows that “we’d rather text, than talk” – relying more on technology and less on each other. As a result, “we are alone, together” [Sherry Turkle].

At the C3 lab, we investigate two themes:

1) The redesign of social media systems to mitigate loneliness and isolation by fostering high-quality social connections.

2) The design of wearable and interactive technologies in public spaces to prompt spontaneous,  joyful encounters between strangers.

In both of these themes, the idea is to unite people who typically may not have much contact with each other by highlighting our “common humanity” (how all human beings struggle with the same things), rather than our superficial differences. As urban artist Candy Chang once said [2]: “In our society, when we feel fear, anxiety or confusion, we often do our best to hide it from others. But what if we could make more safe places to share? There’s great power in knowing you’re not alone.”

Humane Tech Meetup: June 2018

Thank you to everyone for a fantastic meetup! We hope you had fun, learned something, met interesting people, and got inspired by this question of “How can we design interactive technologies to connect strangers in public spaces?”

Here is the PDF of the presentation. The last 3 slides contain resources and references from the talk. Photos from the meetup are here.

Thank you again to Wertheim Cologne (Cologne, Germany) for hosting us!

Whats coming up? Kamil and I are planning the next community project. Stay updated on Twitter (@helenaihe and @kamilbbs) or check back often with the Humane Tech meetup group!