The Digital Detoxery

The Digital Detoxery is a pop-up installation that creates space for open dialogue about social media and mental health. It features five artefacts I created, each reflecting a different aspect of young women’s struggles with social media.

Through interviews and workshops with young women, I explored the elements they struggle with most. To give these often invisible experiences with social media a tangible and immersive form, I designed the following five artefacts:

1. Blocking Screen Protector: blurs likes and followers to reduce social comparison.
2. Attention Span Clinic: helps you rebuild your lost focus.
3. Big Tech Transparency Glasses: reveal what data is tracked about you.
4. Physical Notification Service: delivers all your notifications once a day.
5. Therapeutic Chatbot: offers a mood-based feed to steer you away from rabbit holes.

• Feeling overwhelmed by notifications? Use the Physical Notification Service.
• Feeling insecure because of online comparison? Blur out using the Blocking Screen Protector.
• Afraid of ending up in toxic rabbit holes? Interact with the Therapeutic Chatbot.
• Are you losing your ability to focus? Book an appointment at the Attention Span Clinic.
• Unaware about how your data is sold to third parties? Get more insights with the Big Tech Transparency Glasses.

These artefacts imagine a dystopian future where social media remains dangerously addictive. If politics fail to intervene, we are forced to design our own digital detox tools. Through absurdism and extreme, trend based scenarios, I aim to shock visitors into reflection.

With this project, I want to raise awareness about the impact of social media on our mental health. The exhibition should invite you to reflect on your own relationship with these platforms.