What “sharing” has to do with “disconnecting”
What do Instagram pictures of breakfast, your friend’s jogging stats on Facebook and cat videos on YouTube have in common?
These are all things that people make visible to others. Whether it’s the opportunity to brag, genuine goodwill, or just making us feel good about ourselves, we want everyone to know what we’re (up to), even if it doesn’t always match total reality. In recent years, the advent of social media and the ability to access social networks through smartphones and other mobile devices has made it easier than ever for us to share our lives.
Sharing. Isn’t it more likely that the more we share — yes, communicate — through these networks, the less we actually share? Aren’t we more often distancing ourselves as a result? Don’t we rather show very clearly what we don’t share?? Things that others might envy us for. Things that others do not currently have. Things that we are particularly good at, that we can do, that we can afford. Things that others dream of. We mainly share the special things, showcasing a world of superlatives, of vacation, of beauty, of specialness. We open up a gap were normality should be: from the simple, to the bad, the sad and even the monotonous.
Sharing, isn’t that actually a synonym for “showing off” or even “separating”? What separates us from others? What do I have, that you don’t? And suddenly, from this perspective, the so-called “social medium” becomes the medium of “social distancing.”
In times of Corona, the expression “social distancing” has taken on a whole new meaning. We need to stay away from each other physically, yet we long for closeness, for touch, for sharing the little things. We don’t want to distance ourselves even further from each other, but rather we seek to experience more closeness.
So how does design respond to this insight? H&M also recognized this with its social distancing jacket, which is designed to give the wearer the feeling of being touched. The product idea combines a classic denim jacket with sensors and tactile elements with which the user can connect via an app. Now signals can be transmitted to the jacket as touches.
This jacket falls under the idea of a “social wearable”, something denkwerk also developed in 2016. A gentle wearable, an interactive clothing item that provides tenderness in addition to the smartness of say, your average smartwatch. A scarf that the user likes to put on, with which one can send sensory messages to his or her loved one. In this way, the scarf connects people who are emotionally close to each other but currently have to keep their distance.
A product that is more relevant today than ever before and that inspires me to think more about the actual needs of people in the current difficult, distanced times, and to search for new solutions.
