Using simple
technology, the <b><i>Light Conversation </i></b>product has a metaphorical function showing
how many verbal phone calls the user makes in a week. The product hopes to call
attention to and change the growing online population’s choice of medium and
multi-tasking. Reflecting on how social ”social media” connections truly are
may make a return to basic mono-tasking easier, interacting with human voices
more intriguing and may indeed make us more ‘connected’ to who we really are.

<b><i>Light
Conversation&nbsp;</i></b>

• How many of us have
  stopped actual verbal conversations?&nbsp;
• In-person interactions
  with other human beings?&nbsp;

I’ve realized that I
have. I spend my time communicating through limited media – taking shortcuts to
express my emotions&nbsp;and thoughts – perhaps because of my trust in
technology.&nbsp;

Pinpointing my
whereabouts, texting my emotional state with an emoticon,&nbsp;’liking’ my
relative’s recent travel plans. It’s oh so simple and effortless.&nbsp;

There’s a simple
online summary on what I’m doing right now, what was done yesterday, which
movie I prefer, and my general hobbies. There is a good chance I have
underestimated my weight in print, embellished income and accentuated
interests, just to be more ‘likable’ to a wider audience.

Never before had there
been reason to question my online purpose or habits. Then, in 2011, I was
offered the opportunity to work as a designer in China.&nbsp; There, social
networks can be limited, with some even banned. I took this as an opportunity
to leave one of my accounts to see if it made any difference in my social life.
To my surprise, some family members considered this act as an attempt to burn
family bridges. Others wondered when we had had a dispute. Some acquaintances
were sure I had died. Ludicrous as it may now seem, these were natural
reactions, yet no one questioned the platform.&nbsp;

Technology has
developed rapidly since 1637 when René Descartes first declared: ‘I
think, therefore I am’. We can now be localized while tweeting or live tagged
while sitting on the bus, not considering that everything
we do is being stored as data. Being online has become a most coveted tattoo
that we can electronically show off to the world. And, we think there’s no
catch.&nbsp;

<b><i>Light
Coversation</i></b> started as a project. After noticing
that my social networking address list had grown quite long over time, I
decided to define the term ‘friends’. Not once had I stopped to think whether I
actually knew these people or not before giving them access to my online life.
I did a friend-scan and filtered everyone on the list through three
categories:&nbsp;

*
‘Barely spoken with’,&nbsp;

* ‘Acquaintances that I’d had at least
one conversation over the last two years.’

*
‘Actual friends’.&nbsp;

The results were
shocking. Of my entire 626 friends, I only considered 34 of them to be actual
friends.

This became the
starting point to return to the roots of having actual meetings – good old
chitchatting over coffee. And here is where the voice comes in – the least used
function on our smartphones. (see figure 1)

The definition of
Identity has always been translated into physical documents, like an ID card, birth
certificate or fingerprint. Social networking has taken identity to a new
official level, seemingly without being official. Our
online-self and our offline-self seem to have so little in common. One values
extreme openness or at the very least an ego boost. The other – well frankly,
it’s been forgotten.&nbsp;

<b><i>Light Conversation</i></b>
is a shout out to get back to our verbal mode. Without voices or ears we can’t tell
🙂 from :(.&nbsp;

What you say is as
important as <b><i>how</i> you say it</b>, and taking time to verbalize gives us a greater
understanding of weeding out the fakes from the friends. Mono-tasking may be
the preferred language to keep us focused on one thing. Efficient multitasking
can still live freely in machines.&nbsp;

<b><i>Light Conversation</i></b>
reminds us that without verbal communication we loose the power of control.
Instead, we see life as a never-ending number that promotes us to do more, but
to an indifferent audience.&nbsp; Perhaps even enduring more misunderstandings
since we are unaware of the intended tone of voice. It just doesn’t work that
way for me. I don’t need a simple timeline that shows my life all neatly
wrapped. I’d rather wait for the pop-up moments of reminiscence.&nbsp;

As a Designer, I believe
in telling this story with the help of something physical; a product to show
that verbal communication may soon become part of a bygone era – if we don’t
change.

See the launch video: https://vimeo.com/66715131

<b>[u]Product[/u]</b>:

<b><i>Light Conversation</i></b>
is a concept phone. Its purpose is to show your verbal behavior. If you make no
verbal calls for a week and just choose to communicate through limited media,
the phone will gradually increase its light strength until you pick it up and
call someone. <b><i>Light Conversation</i></b> then resets to day one, and repeats the
procedure. The handle is corded to prevent the user from multi-tasking, so as
not to disrupt the focus on conversation and verbal delivery.

<b>[u]Contact[/u]</b>:

Product
Designer Amanda Ames&nbsp;

Nilstorpsvägen 95, S-18147
Stockholm, Sweden

www.amandaames.com

+46-(0)768881419 &nbsp;

ames.amanda@gmail.com

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