Humanize Project
In 2012, I couldn't help but feel that we were all becoming human cyborgs with the time we spent attached to our phones and laptops. The Internet was evolving and had the power of bringing us closer together, but it also seemed to be pushing us apart. Whether it was the likes, follows, streaming, downloading, DMs, IMs, tweets, memes, and whatnots, we were becoming the generation that could not live or function without our phones.
This project was my hypothetical solution to help us balance out using technology and being able to do without it.
Project
A 2-part project that incorporates an online awareness as well as a mobile application to monitor his/her daily technology usage.
Story
We are becoming cyborgs; we are letting technology take over our lives by making us less social and less productive by converting our lifestyle to one where we no longer think for ourselves. What if by advancing in technology, we end up losing our sense of humanity? We need to start "programming" ourselves to be humans again.
Programs
// Adobe Illustrator
// Adobe Photoshop
Humanize Yourself
The user is first introduced to the website: http://humanizeyourself.com through the means of social media.
Borgy
Borgy is the interactive icon that guides the user through the website and mobile application. Although it is a cyborg, it has a spunky personality to keep the user engaged.
Phase 01
Phase 01 of "humanizing" yourself again is to realize there is a problem. Constant use of media can lead users to become more socially awkward, depressed, anxious, and can even make users become addicted and unproductive.
The Quiz - Cyborg Evaluation
To get people to realize there is a problem, the user takes a quiz and the results include two sets of data. One set of data draws from your history and calculates how much time is spent on each website. The other set of data shows the collective average amount of time other users spend on the website daily.
Phase 02
Phase 02 weens the user out of the "cyborg" state. Technology is supposed to enhance the lives of people, but too much of anything can be a bad thing. But instead of cold-cutting technology out, this phase implements technology into the user's life with mobile and web browser applications to help manage and teach the user to create better habits.
The Web Browser Application
Only available for Google Chrome Extensions.
The Mobile Application
Compatible with Android and IOS.
Google Chrome
This web browser extension uses a simple gadget to monitor the user's internet usage. Once again, Borgy comes out to play and sits on the task bar to update the user every thirty minutes on how much time is spent on each website. The user then becomes more aware of the time spent and will try to tone down the usage.
The Alerts
Depending on the website and the time, Borgy will change from friendly to hostile.
Android and IOS
This mobile application acts as a trainer to ween the user out of the "cyborg state". Everyday, the user is required to complete four tasks ranging from easy to hard. Each day the tasks change; however, everyday they must go on a "media fast" for at least an hour. The tasks may include reading articles, phoning a friend (instead of texting, DMing, or IMing), making a lunch date or "banning" a website for the day.
The Game
A point system would be utilized to (further) encourage the user to ween him/herself out of the cyborg state. After each task is completed, points are rewarded depending on the level of the task. However, if the user fails to complete the hour-long "media fast", no points are rewarded for the day.
