Mediating presents
Dr. Rebecca Coleman - Goldsmiths, University London
Overview
How do we spend time on social media? Do we waste time browsing the internet, or pass time while waiting? Does time go quickly when we know we should reply to a message, or when we receive notifications? How do we make sense of Snapchat images that disappear after a few seconds, or Instagram Stories designed to vanish after 24 hours? Can we keep track of social media posts? Should we try to? How do the times of social media make us feel?
During these workshops with year 10 and year 12 students, we explored questions such as these through discussions, viewings of artist-films, and making art to visualise experiences of and feelings about digital and social media.
How do we spend time on social media? Do we waste time browsing the internet, or pass time while waiting? Does time go quickly when we know we should reply to a message, or when we receive notifications? How do we make sense of Snapchat images that disappear after a few seconds, or Instagram Stories designed to vanish after 24 hours? Can we keep track of social media posts? Should we try to? How do the times of social media make us feel?
During these workshops with year 10 and year 12 students, we explored questions such as these through discussions, viewings of artist-films, and making art to visualise experiences of and feelings about digital and social media.
Images from the session
The workshops were part of a research project led by Rebecca Coleman (University of Bristol), funded by the Leverhulme Trust, called Mediating Presents: Producing ‘the Now’ in Contemporary Digital Culture, which aimed to explore how digital media have changed our experience of time.
Publications on the research include a specially commissioned essay for the Barbican’s programme on Life Rewired (2019). Click on the image below to go to the publication.
Publications on the research include a specially commissioned essay for the Barbican’s programme on Life Rewired (2019). Click on the image below to go to the publication.
