Can technology promote human-to-human interaction?

While the rise of digital has opened up a world of possibilities, it has had a detrimental effect on consumers’ attention spans. Jessen’s devices examine how technology might be applied to capture the quality of face-to-face interaction.

The designer has created a smart lamp with an in-built microphone as part of his Decompressed Design project that disables smartphone notifications upon detecting a spoken conversation that lasts for more than 30 seconds, enabling the speakers to communicate without distraction. He has also designed a messaging app that mimics the transitory nature of real-life conversations by blurring old messages. Users are unable to switch out of their conversation and return to it later, encouraging them to focus on the task at hand.

‘Human relationships are rich, messy and demanding. And we clean them up with technology,’ says MIT professor Sherry Turkle. ‘When we do, one of the things that can happen is that we sacrifice conversation for mere connection.’