Posthuman/Digital Free Zone, Digital Awareness Day

HI,

The digital free zone was in conjunction with post-human awareness. This station consisted of a refreshment stand with an assortment of goodies (including a chocolate cake from Becks and cupcakes from Anthony) for people to sit and engage in face to face communication. There was an assortment of digital free activities that comprised of:

Lego 

Connect Four

Painting

Play-dough

Monopoly

The only rule was no interaction with digital devices within the taped zone free area. The rationale behind this station was to  incorporate the mind with the body with touch, communication, sense of achievement and organic creativity activities with no technology involved. 

The average time spent within this zone was approximately 15-20 minutes. The majority of participants 75% received some form of telecommunications, with over half optioning to leave the zone to answer/reply. When people settled into their chosen activity, they became very immersed, especially with the painting, Play dough and Connect Four. These three activities were the most popular with the most time spent. Two participants when playing with the play dough opted to create a masterpiece with no preconceived idea. 

Participants I spoke with were aware of their interaction with the digital and the majority thought overall this was not a positive thing. All mentioned the large amount of time spent on digital devices and their resolve to limit this as time could be spent engaging with more productive activities. But the ease, speed and availability - especially with WI FI availability increasing outside social institutions, e.g. shopping centers, some London Underground stations, restaurants and available free/cheap apps (. It was interesting that photo sharing is a gender specific activity with ladies only engaged with it. 

It was nice to see adults enjoying themselves and having fun outside the sphere of technology and drink. The laughter emitted from playing Connect Four (Edwardian from around 1900), a simple limitless age participation game was quite enduring.