Get Real: Workshop Discussion Facilitator
Your Social Media Presence, Unfiltered.
Project Type: Graduate School Project for Human-Centered Design Class.
Timeline: September 2021.
Role: Researcher, Designer, Creative, Presenter.
Project Description: For this project, I was tasked with creating a workshop activity for a high school that seeks new approaches to talk to and teach students about social media, privacy and its influence on mental health. Based on this prompt, I developed Get Real, a discussion facilitation activity to get kids to be open and honest about their social media knowledge and experiences.
Challenge: 90% of teens currently use social media, and they spend most of their leisure time consuming digital entertainment on platforms that are continually collecting their data and causing them to compare themselves to others, which causes a decline in their mental health. Although teens spend so much time on social platforms, they struggle to be open about their experiences. This activity aims to make that easier.
Solution: I drew inspiration from social media-famous concepts such as Jubilee’s Middle Ground, We’re Not Really Strangers, and {The And}. Many teens are already familiar with those formats, so they will be excited to play and get honest with their peers. In order to make the activity less intimidating, students can skip any prompt they are uncomfortable expanding on during the workshop and pick another card. They can also excuse themselves from the activity if needed.
Results: Players are able to build off of their initial participation both throughout and after the activity to see how their social media practices change over time and as a result of the conversations. For the purposes of the workshop, students ask 4 questions from each pack, discuss what was talked about and report back to the workshop.