Problem

Negative comparison is exacerbated by high social media usage, especially among adolescents with low socioeconomic status living in poor urban neighborhoods such as the Bronx. The consequences of high social media usage include poor mental health and well-being, ignorance of algorithms (hence a lack of exposure to diverse content), and increased belief in distorted realities. Teens who passively consumed social media reported decreases in life satisfaction; however, teens who used social media to interact with others or post their own content did not experience these declines. The large differences between social media effects on teenagers with high versus low emotional well-being highlight the importance of supporting teens in building mindfulness, critical thinking skills, and resilience as they navigate the digital world.

Mission Statement

This project aims to develop young adolescents' critical and reflective mindset to empower them to make more thoughtful consumption decisions actively rather than being swayed by media messaging or societal pressures.

Objectives

Adolescent participants will

• explain how social media messages are influenced by algorithms
• demonstrate smart consumer skills by posing questions
• eflect on their consumer behaviors and examine their biases through exposure to diverse life stories

Proposed Solution

To achieve our learning objectives and purpose, we proposed four interactive public installations powered by digital technology, each named: Augmented Reality Characters; Looking Past Social Media Algorithms; Let's Play Detective; and Who are You Behind Your Mask? The installations will work together to educate adolescents on how social media messaging and algorithms impact their media consumption. Face to face public installations were chosen as the vehicle for our mission because they allow for social interactions and active discussions that would be otherwise very challenging to be replicated organically online. It also allows participants to freely explore at their own time and pace, as well as return to interact with the installations as long and often as they want. Additionally, we chose a place-based solution because it increases accessibility and reach to our target audience. It also allows us to remove our audience from a digital platform and allow them to reflect in a physical space in an authentic way and interact with physical materials. Community centers were chosen as the primary location for our proposal because people view them as spaces of social interaction and discussion, which was further confirmed through our formative evaluation with two 12-year-old and one 13-year-old boy from a middle socioeconomic background. Additionally, since our target audience comes from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, community centers provide lower barriers to entry compared to other public locations like museums or libraries, which may have additional costs and behavioral expectations.

Conclusion

Innovative, multi-modal, and diversified informal learning approach: four public installations & mobile app As co-creators, adolescents will learn and reflect on their social media consumption behaviors and become wiser consumers

For our full project pitch slide deck, click here

And For The full project pitch proposal, click here