Hi there!
Wow, Friday was quite an interesting day seeing as it was the first day of my social intervention! My crew and I were quite nervous. We met at around 2pm at school, unfortunately we forgot to take into consideration that most people will be gone by then. However,we realized that it wasn’t so bad since this probably means the people still hanging around school were more or less living on campus or weren’t as busy as during the week. We started off in the Bladen wing computer labs, Myself, Jessica, Derek (photographer) went around and found some familiar classmates. We decided to warm up with our conversations with them since it would be less intimidating. Here’s a picture of Jessica and I conquering a Bladen Wing computer lab:
Our goal today was reaching at least 10 people. Of course, we weren’t so sure people would oblige to engaging in a conversation with us, but wow was I wrong! we doubled our goal and actually got 20 people to participate. Unfortunately some participants either did not want their picture taken, or voice recorded, but we still had a thorough conversation with them and was quite enjoyable. Normally, I enjoy one-on-one conversations, but I realized that many of the people I approached were also joined by other friends who were near by just to check out what the fuss was about. Friday’s experience in my perspective was a liberating experience and instilled more confidence in my project and reaching my goal of 30 students on campus (10 students per group member). Here are some more pictures from the day:
I realized that actually having what seems like a “mystery bag” to some of the people seemed reluctant to engage in the conversation or preoccupied their mind because of the confusion and initial shock of leaving their cell phone or other device with a stranger. After several attempts at this, I realized it was more productive and an easier tranisition for the student (from shock to conversation) to simply ask some questions that lead them in a direction towards thinking critically about their use of cell phones and iPods.
Questions to think about:
1) What is your main source of communication with friends/family? (i.e. Phone, Internet, Texting, MSN)
2) Do you own a cell phone, portable music player, or other technological gadgets? How often do you use them? (i.e. PSP, Blackberry, iPhone, iPod)
3) Do you feel that reliance on these devices reduces the time spent on developing relationships?
4) Have you ever forgotten your cell phone at home? How do you feel without it?
5) When and why do you most tend to rely on these devices?
- Charlotte
Filed under: Charlotte's Posts, Interviews, Progress Updates Tagged: | absent presence, new media, social intervention
Very cool project, makes me wish I was in school again, and I likely will be in night school soon anyhow. I think it is a very interesting and important topic you are tackling here. It makes me think of conversations I have had with people before, conversations like how in Toronto, if you talk to strangers at the bus stop or grocery store, you can often be seen as odd. I’ve spoken to people from older generations, and they have mentioned how people are colder these days and don’t strike up conversations with strangers anymore. I could totally see this. So every time I am at the supermarket waiting in line or at Tim Horton’s or wherever it may be, if someone strikes up a conversation with me, I would totally participate, and sometimes even engage. This topic you are discussing, also ties in to several similar arguments, for example, how often do people write hand written notes or letters to eachother…there is great value to the antiquated notion of writing notes by hand, in my opinion. So yes, I agree, people need to shut off their gadgets and engage more in life and in people, or at least, enjoy some quiet time…especially in Toronto, where life is so fast paced, quiet time to reflect on ones day is virtually extinct like dinosaurs… maybe, just maybe, we might eventually be the dinosaurs…lol..