Art 12A | Fall 2019 | Jesse Colin Jackson | University of California, Irvine
Exemplary Projects, Fall 2019
Examples of exemplary projects, chosen by your TAs, are posted here. Please continue to critique them below. Thank you for your effort this quarter!
Corey’s Exemplary Examples:
Blanca Aldana For my project, I decided to deprive myself of Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, Netflix, Youtube, and, Spotify for seven days. These are all applications that I use daily and struggle to live without. I often found myself unconsciously unlocking my phone trying to click on the spot where Instagram used to be, only to be reminded that I couldn’t use it. As a result, it became most difficult for me to not use social media. My deprivation experience is shown through these photographs in which illustrate the evolution of my emotions over time. When I was able to use all of these applications I was happy and at peace with myself. However, that changed once I stripped myself of it. I felt as if my phone was useless, it was just an expensive alarm clock. My phone was like a flip phone in the sense that its only purpose was to text or call. With so much free time, I found myself constantly sleeping. With no motivation, I was ready to throw my phone away. Not being able to use any of these platforms created a sense of loneliness and frustration all at the same time. Therefore, I began to interact more with my friends, making the process much easier. To my surprise, I was able to keep myself from downloading the apps back onto my phone. Although my week consisted of frustration, I am proud to have successfully resisted the urge to use these platforms.
Jude Marwan M Althagafi
My tv is the most used device I have, I even use it more than my phone sometimes. I decided to get a tv box from Lowe’s and stuff my tv under my bed for 3 weeks. My first few mornings felt kind of empty. I filled it with scrolling through social media while eating breakfast, that was the special hour where I got to watch The Office before. Then it got easier, I had to stop myself from going to alternatives. I started waking up earlier to have breakfast with my roommate, and became more productive in the morning. I have late classes so I would find myself wasting time binge watching tv, but now I get more stuff done. Although, I’m not gonna lie I cheated a little bit, I watched 1 or 2 episodes of The Office on my laptop, but it’s still such an improvement from before.I painted this during my free time away from my tv. It’s a gray living room, quite dark and sad with a window looking out to color and life. And there’s a shadow of myself on the couch, a very badly painted shadow, but it reflects how I see myself when I’m letting my life pass through by wasting valuable time on such meaningless things. I know my painting skills aren’t amazing, (note the killer unicorn I tried to draw), but this project brought me peace.
Okechukwu Chukwuma
For my deprivation experience I chose to cease usage of Reddit, Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat for two weeks. Initially, I felt out of the loop, bored, and even a little anxious on far behind I was falling on my friend’s lives, internet culture like memes, and things I am passionate about like tennis, music and games. After a while though, I realized it didn’t really matter. I was still able to keep up with the friends I care about by talking to them and I was still able to keep up with my hobbies by word of mouth. I realized my usage of these apps led to a sensory overload high I constantly gave myself, and looking back on that usage now is scary as it even hurt my relationships. Due to these feelings, I decided to create a type of glitch art with 85 photos from Instagram and my favorite subreddits during that two week period blended together. The result, I feel, encapsulates my feelings of fear, sensory overload, and how none of it really matters ultimately.
For this project, I chose to deprive myself of dating apps such as Tinder and Hinge. Nowadays I can feel how much people my age rely on dating apps to meet new people, itfeels like it made making connections easier by allowing us to connect to numerous of potential matches with a swipe of our finger. However, it was like a trap. An old chinese folklore says the gods tie a red string to link us to our soulmates, but nowadays, in the process of trying to find “the one”, we start to entangle ourselves with the problem that arises from this technology, which is having too many options too easily. When I first started depriving myself of these dating apps, I felt isolated at first. Dating apps are one of the easiest ways to put yourself out there to meet people; however, I realized because it was the easiest, the connections formed from these platforms are also prone to be the weakest. Understanding that concept in the end made me feel liberated from the pressure of finding “the one”, coming to terms with those people who were just not on the same page as me. I realized what I need is not something dating apps can offer. During the process, I made a lot of self-discovery, I started to untangle myself from these meaningless connections and worked harder to identify my values and understand my own self-worth.
Kevin Shawn Zhu
Play these videos alongside each other. Let video 1 play for about 3-5 seconds before starting Video 2.
Media has sometimes led our lives to be incongruent, unaligned, and discordant. As a result of my media deprivation, a few thoughts sprang up including what a waste of time. But more importantly: who are we following? Too often it seems we are keeping up with the Joneses and we don’t even know who they are.
Jehbreal’s Exemplary Examples:
Haley Kim
The media that I decided to deprive myself of was Google Maps. I’m really bad with directions, so I have to use Google Maps every day. For two weeks, I gave up to use that platform and in the end, I realized I can’t live without it. As my family and friends expected, I totally lost directions and wasted a lot of time on the road. Without real-time traffic information, I had to face several obstacles such as construction and traffic jams. Also, I drove my car in the wrong way several times, so I was really anxious and afraid. Later, I got some help from my family, but their help was not enough to solve my problem. Therefore, I tried to memorize every road sign and landscapes. During that time, I felt like I was isolated on the maze which doesn’t have any exit, so I realized how much I obsessed with Google Maps. For my art project, I decided to make a maze and put three traffic signal color beads inside it. Using the circle shape base which represents the car handle, I wanted to express a difficult moment of driving without Google Maps. Moving beads also represent the car that I drove and I attached the concrete paper to represent the road. During I shaking and moving the base, the maze becomes an obstacle to find the exit. However, in the end, all of those beads find the exit, but it takes some time.
Kaitlyn Nguyen
Love is like a fluffy bed
Suffocating in the lungs.
At first when you fall, you’re encompassed
In the warmth and the comfort and the safety.
Nothing excites you more than a simple daydream –
To rush
Towards your bed with arms ready,
Receiving a long-awaited embrace.
Slumber comes quick and easy,
Bringing you hopes and dreams and restored vitality for tomorrow, rather than
Wrenching you away
From harsh realities of today; Letting you recharge
For the night instead of permitting you to recover
From a day
Spent seeking refuge.
If you’re lucky, you’ll wake up
Cradled in euphoria, a rosy reality.
But if you’re ordinary, you’ll wake up
Having realized the real destination of your fall:
To a love like
Quicksand –
Where the static are praised
And the active are submerged.
Where, if your eyes are closed,
An embrace is indecipherable from a constraint.
Where you’re never cradled,
But always confined and drained and left
Wondering why.
Wondering how,
When you dawned
Those rose-colored glasses that camouflaged the white
Pretenses of darkness.
I decided to deprive myself of Tinder. What I missed the most during the deprivation period was the immediacy of getting to know new people. Though I missed this immediacy, I did not feel the need to compensate with other activities. Overall I felt liberated, and cleansed of the superficiality that can take place on Tinder. I did notice however that the longer I went without using it, the more it made me reflect on its concept, and further distance myself from using it again. I thought about the different intentions people may have with using Tinder, and abou relationships in general. And what I realized is that for me, this app only adds more superficiality to an area of my life where I want none. I have concluded that not only am I capable of living without Tinder, I also have a new desire to stay away from it altogether. What I want my art to illustrate are the concepts I reflected on in the absence of Tinder. Ithought about how love can be blind, how easy it is to fall into delusion while wholeheartedly believing in another reality, and how platforms like Tinder heighten one’s chances to be blinded by superficiality. I decided to write a poem because I love poetry, and I enjoy the process of writing a poem. Though it may seem corny, I believe that poetry is just a great medium that lends itself to topics like love and relationships.
For this course project, I deprived myself of two social media apps that I use frequently: Instagram and Snapchat. Although this deprivation is not as creative, it is significant for me because I heavily rely on these applications to connect myself to my friends and their daily lives. When I started my deprivation experience, I realized it was difficult for me not to open those apps, so much so that I had to actually delete them from my phone. Throughout these 2 weeks of deprivation, I found myself instinctively navigating my phone to open Instagram and Snapchat, only to find them missing. Especially during times of inactivity, I found myself restless to know what the rest of my friends are up to and how life is outside of my own home. I represented this deprivation experience by creating a web application where the user must drag/drop a stick figure to open Instgram/Snapchat. However, when it tries to use these apps, the logo disappears and shows up somewhere else. As the figure continuously tries to use these apps, the text changes to show the figure’s thoughts and mental struggles from its inability to check these apps, and the background slowly gets darker until it hits pitch black. The final piece of text “LET ME OUT” resembles how at the end of my deprivation, I felt as if I was in a social bubble, unable to see and know what is happening in my friends’ lives.
Cherry Nguyen
As a college student who’s money conscious and coupons in order to save money, I chose to deprive myself from grocery store apps such as Albertsons and Ralph’s. Grocery stores are now offering more and personalized coupons to their shoppers on their app, reducing the amount of paper coupons printed. Usually I would preview the deals on Tuesdays and add coupons on the apps before going to the store on Wednesdays which was the first day of when the new deals become effective. During the week deprivation, it was hard to me to resist clicking on the apps since I plan my meals for the week based on what coupons were offered. At first I felt mad and annoyed that I couldn’t use any of my coupons. However, I felt disappointed in myself after that since I knew the money I could have saved could have been used for other purchases. As a result of the deprivation, I was spending about 30-40% more on my groceries. For my art project, I decided to use coupons and weekly ads as a trashcan to represent how if I was not able to use coupons then they might as well become trash. On average, college students spend about $200 per month on groceries when usually I would spend about $100 with coupons. However since I was spending more money with the deprivation, the money sticking out of the trashcan represent how I was basically throwing away money.
TA’S AND JESSE! WE CAN ACT THIS OUT!!! HERE”S THE CASTING!
ME: DAISY
COREY: NATALIE
ETHAN: THOMAS
MOTHER: JESSE
The choice of media that I chose to display was a short story excerpt from a play,represeting what I went through when I dealt with not having social media. For about a week, I gave up all my social media accounts and I found that it was very relieving. Nowadays, I feel like social media is very suffocating, you always have to stay up with the trends and be on top of every new event that’s happening. I find that to be really stressful at times and can take away from living in the moment in everyday life. For example, I see a lot of people scrolling through Instagram or Facebook while walking to class or even waiting for the professor to start lecturing. I think that we’re missing a lot of life‘s essence when we’re constantly being consumed by all the different social media apps. I didn’t really feel isolated from the world, I felt more liberated without having to check Instagram every couple hours. I felt more aware of everything around me, it was as if I had more time to talk to friends or even time for myself. It was as if I had a week of self-care and relaxation. I did miss being able to stay up to date with my friends on social media and seeing what they’re doing, however, I realized that it’s not that hard to have a simple phone call with them and check in on what they’re up to. In the short excerpt that I wrote, I described a girl and how she went about her camping trip without having her phone. Unlike all her friends, she was the only one that forgot her phone at home and thus, was unable to post anything on her story during the camping trip. Instead of being sad and moping about it, she decided to carry on and went on the first hike of the trip. During the hike, instead of wasting so much time taking pictures and posting, she found herself exploring the wilderness and being 100% immersed in everything around her. In the end, she found a beautiful secret trail that led her to a waterfall and the name of the waterfall was something that she’s been seeing in her dreams lately. The name of the waterfall was “Serenitatem,” that is Latin for the word “serenity.” The reason why I chose to name the waterfall after serenity is because as each day went by without social media, I found myself gradually improving my social skills as well as finding inner peace with myself. I found it to be very relieving and serene to not be consumed by social media, which is why I decided to name the waterfall after serenity. The reason why I chose to write is short script is because I love theatre and drama, it’s been a while since I’ve written any type of script so I wanted to bring back my creative roots with playwriting.
For the deprivation experience, I first chose to deprive myself of Reddit, shortly after doing this, I realized that I used the app mostly to keep up to date on world and national news. So, I decided to deprive myself of digital based news sources including news channels and news sites. In doing this, I became more ignorant of what was going on in the world and the experience reminded me that when we are constantly connected whether it is through an app or aTV show it is a constant bombardment of the horrors going on around us. Hence, I chose to create a video displaying the different news reports that came out during the time I remained unconnected. Those videos will cut to static over time to represent the number of news channels, sites, and apps I avoided on my phone and television. So, that nearing the end of the video when they are all static a question that can be asked is if it is a good thing to constantly be aware of what’s going on worldwide.
For my final project I have decided to make a video representing how deleting a photo editing app has changed my perception of myself. I recorded myself doing my makeup in order to take the perfect selfie and then edited that selfie to mold myself into what I see as “perfect”. After portraying myself as the version I would like to be, I realize that our perception of beauty is so distorted that nobody truly feels comfortable in their own skin. I then remove all of my makeup and revealed the real me.I used to use Instagram religiously and would edit every single photo I posted because I was never satisfied with the way I looked. There is an abundance of apps available to download which allows you to completely transform the way you look into the “perfect” version of yourself. I thought that if I didn’t look a certain way, I wouldn’t be accepted by others and would be judged unconditionally. However, after I disclosed and posted a photo of the real me, instead of receiving negative comments, I actually got an overwhelming amount of positive comments and support. Towards the end of the week, I realized that just because you look prettier, doesn’t necessarily mean you will be more socially accepted into society. By showing everyone my natural authentic-self, I have made myself vulnerable, but at the same time I have gained respect from others. You should always love your true self and others will follow.
I chose to deprive myself of Instagram for a week by deleting it off my phone because that’s the social media platform that I visit the most. I recorded the number of times I reached for my phone to check for the deleted app and it was a lot more than I was aware of. I felt anxious and isolated from my friends’ lives because I didn’t know what everyone was up to. It made me kind of sad thinking about how much I relied on Instagram to cure my boredom even when there was nothing new to refresh. The dependence made me feel controlled and I came up with the idea of using The Sims which is a life simulation game which I’m a big fan of to portray this addiction. I made my sim after myself and she’s a college student who is attempting to do homework after attending classes for the day. It was both a disturbing and thought provoking experience trying to control myself and witnessing how bad my fixation to Instagram was. I was representative of the Instagram corporation forcing my Sim to continuously check her feed while she was trying to be productive. This experience has given me a new outlook on just how obsessed I am with social media in general and how meaningless it was to make my sim refresh her feed when there were hundreds of other things to make her do to enjoy life in the game.
Angel Wahbi
I have been painting on wooden slices for a couple years now, ever since I fell in love with the idea of using nature as a canvas for my art. Recently, over the past several months, I noticed my wooden slices untouched in a corner. I would buy more and more but I could not find the motivation to set up my art supplies and start painting again. It felt like I lost the initial spark thatI had; the passion that I was developing felt as if it was slipping through my hands. At first, whenI experienced this artist block, I thought it was inevitably something I would just have to accept.Then along came this art project. It was not until I eliminated Instagram, the largest source for my time and passion lost in art, that I started to focus on my painting again. Not only have I noticed that Instagram took up much of my time, but it felt almost like Instagram replaced the motivation I had for my art. It was the last thing I thought was the cause of my artist block but it sneakily discouraged and distracted me. Social media tricks us into thinking that we know what is important in life, but it is not even close. On the wooden slice is a painting of a view from one of my favorite spots in Newport beach during sunset. I noticed that I had more appreciation for nature and the small things that make me happy. This project really broke the wall of my artist block. Thank you for this!
Hi Bianca,
I love how simple yet effective your project is. By posting images of yourself you put yourself out there and leave yourself vulnerable. We can see the clear shift in mood from where you seem happy in the first picture to looking frustrated in the third picture. By taking pictures of yourself where you’re looking down sadly, we can see your mood is sad. Good job sticking to your goal, and keeping these apps off your phone.
I enjoyed your interactive project! Even though I saw the presentation of your project in class, I decided to try it again myself. I thought it was very cleaver to make the screen darker after opening each app. It really showed me how addicting these applications can be and overwhelming it can be. Great perspective on deprivation!
This is an amazing class! Honestly, I thought my project was going to present in front of everyone, but I might thought too much haha. well, after I take a look on my classmates’ project, I felt a lot of interest souls exists around me. from a selfie to a video, from a video to a game, from a game to a poem, from a poem to a theater scripts. it’s just too many good ideas appeared suddenly. I think the last one shocked me the most because it takes years to finish it based one what she /he said. the painting looks beautiful just. the blue sky and the warm lower part of the painting. it’s just so amazing! wonderful art class, love to take it again!
Hi Haley,
I really enjoyed the presentation of your project. I thought it was incredibly creative to construct a maze to highlight what your deprivation experience was like. I can totally relate to your experience as I consistently use Google Maps everyday in order to get around. I don’t really memorize street signs as it’s just easy to look at the navigation instead. I remember one time my phone battery died, so I was unable to navigate my way back home, which made me feel very anxious and scared, so it made me realize how important this app is to me. I think that I would agree with you that I can’t live without GPS either since it’s been such a helpful tool in guiding my direction everyday.
Hey Jude,
I thought it was very brave of you to have used painting as a medium for your project considering you do not think of your painting skills as amazing. Most of the time we feel discouraged to do something out of our comfort zone because we might not do so well; but in your case, your art project was great. I liked the colors you chose to use in your painting as they demonstrate how dull/boring your time without your tv was inside your house, as opposed to the “outside”, in which you show more vibrant colors.
Hi Alvin Nguyen,
I really liked your website project. Where you have to drag the stick figure to the social media apps. As you drag them upon across the screen becomes more dim until all black reaches. What I really liked it that it displays how humans are reliant to using these apps everyday in their lives. As we do not have access to it daily we start becoming really depressed in not being able to become aware of what are friends are doing online. As that without any access to these apps we would not be able to know what to do next with our lives without the apps.
Hi Xin Xia (Lucy)
I really enjoyed watching your video and I can relate to it a lot. I am someone that has a look when it comes to social media and I try my best to only post pictures I know that highlight my features. I never take pictures on my “bad side” and always, always, edit my posts on instagram or twitter. There is not one inch on my pictures that are left untouched. Even though I never photoshop my face to look like someone else, I still change the picture from how it was originally taken. I always catch myself playing around with the features that change the shape of your face and see what I look like with bigger eyes, a smaller nose, a wider smile, or smaller teeth. But I quickly catch myself and remove all those edits because I know how self deprecating that can get. I loved how you started off with a bare face and ended the video with a bare face, to show that how you are is how you should be and its ok to not always look 100% photoshopped or edited in real life. Because real life isn’t like social media and you video very clearly explains that.
I really enjoyed Haileys project. Unlike her, I am very good with navigation and I really only need my gps for the first time. I find it very intriguing that not everyone is like that. For example my gf, she always needs her gps. There isn’t a time in the car where she doesn’t either use the gps on her phone, or where she has to ask me for step by step directions to get to where we are going. I believe that the idea of making a maze is a perfect representation of not being able to navigate.
Hi Allison,
I really enjoyed watching your sims show what you experienced during your deprivation. I can definitely relate to social media being something that takes a lot of my time and something that can be very distracting. There has been times where I’ve almost missed deadlines because I was so distracted by twitter or instagram. I think time passes by very fast when you are scrolling through different timelines that you don’t realize how much time was used to check your phone until you put it down. Maybe you can relate to having to completely turn off your phone when studying, because that is the only way I can make sure to get my work done, otherwise I will spend hours doing one assignment simply because I take long breaks in between on my phone. It also shows how unproductive it can be. There are so many fun things to do on sims (aka in real life as well), and she could’ve gotten to do other things if she finished her homework. But because she was constantly checking her phone, it took up too much time and she couldn’t do other fun things. This video really puts into perspective how time consuming and impractical social media can be.
Alvin Nguyen
I think your website is really interesting. When the screen turns black in the end, I am really get in crazy. In the final exam, I often abandon these social software, although it will let me review the final exam. But I also go to art galleries, coffee shops or play with other friends during the review period. I also had a lot of good-looking photos to share at that time, but I held back. Everyone will start to ask me what I’ve been doing recently, they can’t see my news. Some people are even upset and think something is wrong with me. Or they thought that I didn’t want to be friends with them anymore. But the funny thing is, when my term is over, I start sharing my pictures continuously, everyone sees me when they are looking through the instagram. And they start to tell me to stop sharing the pictures. Cause, they cannot see other people’s daily life.
Hi Alvin,
You are the first person I’ve seen that has an interactive presentation and I think that is really engaging. But my favorite part was the screen getting darker every time you tried to open up the app. I interpreted this as turning off your phone after every time you checked to use snapchat or instagram. It just keeps getting darker and darker until you eventually stop checking. But I also see it as you being in the dark the whole time when it comes to your friends and families social life. This project also highlights how addicting technology can get and how some people are willing to go through the trouble of chasing it in order to have it in the end. And it shows in the fact that I dragged the little guy until the very end even though I only needed to drag it a couple times to get the idea. Overall I really enjoyed the way you interpreted your perspective of the deprivation!
Hey Blanca!
I enjoyed your art piece a lot! In your artists description, your description of a phone without social media as “an expensive alarm clock” very accurate. You really challenged my perspective on what the importance of having a phone is. For me the primary purposes of a phone include: communication through calls and texts and social media. I definitely related to how you described your phone as an “expensive alarm clock” which really shows how much social media adds to the experience of a smart phone. However I’d like to argue that there is still value in a phone without social media, as you can check for emails and and use the camera, especially because nowadays companies are investing more into the camera aspect of smartphones.
I really enjoyed Haley’s project and her creative idea on creating a maze. All my friends know I am someone who is terrible at directions. Whenever I think I should go one way, the actual correct way would be the complete opposite. I thought it was really interesting how you used the circular shape to represent the car handle. Through your project, you depicted what your life was like when you were unable to use Google Maps. I sensed the frustration because it was like the beads were almost to the exit but not quite which also made me anxious just watching. I give major props to you for being able to give up Google Maps because I honestly use it every single day. I relate to that feeling of being anxious without Google Maps because the app gives us a sense of security knowing that we will be given a set of instructions that will 100% get us to our destination and we simply just need to follow the directions. I never want to waste any time making wrong turns or taking the wrong roads. I get a little flustered whenever I waste time knowing I can spend that time doing something else more productive. I also felt like it was safer to have Google Maps ready just in case I did make a wrong turn because I would have to keep driving until I can find a safe spot to pull over and figure out where I am. But overall, I thought you did an amazing job finding a unique way to clearly depict your life without Google Maps
Hey Angel Wahbi,
I really liked your project and how it is a literal statement to how our captivation with social media can cause us to lose track of who we are and what we love doing. It really did a good job of conveying how until we slow down our lives and realize this we’ll never see how we are literally losing ourselves due to social and digital media. Its also a very nice painting and I just love the execution of the project as well as the intense meaning behind it.
Hi Alvin,
I really enjoyed your project! What stood out to me the most was that your project was an interactive web application. Aside from how much thought and detail went into creating this project, I think this medium also shows how powerful technology can be because this is a new art. This project would not have been able to exist without technology and it’s intriguing how a digital art was made from the absence of digital media. Based on this digital form of art, would you say that society is evolving towards a new trend of digital art to enjoy? I think this is prevalent especially how I see more your children playing phone games or on tablets and less kids playing with physical toys. How do you think newer generations will see art?
I really liked your project, i think it is an amazing idea to convey your feelings that were evoked during your deprivation experience. I like how the picture looks scary and ominous as many would feel at the thought of losing their phones or some aspect of them. I see how the picture makes it seem like you are being overloaded with information especially since you combine 85 different photos.
Hello Nicole Sandoval,
I really liked your project, it really made me see how chaotic our world is and how we are constantly being flooded with information and news from around the world due to our connection to digital media. It also made me see how disconnected from events that happen outside our bubble if those same sources of digital media were to suddenly disappear. It was a really good project and evoked a lot of emotion from me. One critique I have would be to maybe use different news clips although i still believe that you still did a great job of delivering the message despite the fact.
Hi, Xin Xia (Lucy)
Your video is very impressive. People actually want to be perfect in their photos. Some people use a lot of Photoshop to achieve their ideal look, but at the same time they ignore their true look. More seriously, they will start to abandon their looks and feel that they are not perfect, so use plastic surgery to achieve their most ideal look. But what I want to say is that we should love our most primitive look, the most primitive look is the most authentic look. Being the most authentic one is the most beautiful.
I found Hsiao-Ting Huang’s project to be fascinating. The artwork itself was amazing, it clearly reflected their feelings during the deprivation process. The description was really insightful and brought to my attention the reality of dating apps. Not many people deprived themselves of dating apps and I found it interesting that you did. Your response to feeling isolated, I feel was the same as the majority of us that did this project. It made me realize that it didn’t really matter what type of digital media we deprived ourselves of in order to feel isolated. People who rely on digital media on a daily basis are prone to react the same way.
Angel!
Your wood painting is very beautiful! I think using wood as a medium for your painting was a great choice and I like how you were doing these pieces even before this class. This project really communicates a sense of who you are through this medium especially because these types of pieces are something you have been previously working on. Again, the wood slice is a powerful medium to use. In my understanding, the wood has a direct connotation to nature, which is typically the opposite of technology. This was a good contrast which describes how you when from end (technology) and through the process of digital deprivation, ended on the other side of the spectrum (nature aka your wood painting). I agree with you that Instagram can be a replacement for passions (especially art) because we see Instagram as a medium to show the world who we are. Showing how you brought back your motivation to art really highlights how much technology has risen to become almost an type of art medium.
I like your idea very much. But I have no confidence to try. Because I feel that I can’t do anything without using these things, these have become my daily routine. But bad things are, I spend a lot of time using these apps every day, they start to affect my sleep quality, and I gradually start to lose my focus. When I was lying in bed, as soon as I turned on my phone and watched YouTube, I didn’t want to sleep at all. After reading your sharing, I am now trying to go to bed without use my phone, instead of to read or listen to music. I find that I will fall asleep quickly.
I really enjoyed your deprivation project. The use of a play and script provide a lot of room for symbolism and deeper writing which you definitely took advantage of. The story was a good combination of symbolism and direct application of your digital media deprivation. Having the main character Daisy enter a situation similar to yours was a good way to communicate the experience of digital media deprivation. Powerful symbols such as the waterfall also stood out and provided a deeper understanding to the deprivation experience. I like how you chose to a natural setting like the wilderness. It is such a stark contrast to the society we live in, especially within the context of Irvine, where social media and technology play a big role in the tone of the environment. From my perspective, Yosemite is a symbol of the beauty your peace and self care without the use of social media that you found during your deprivation experience.
Hi, Haley Kim,
I think your idea is very creative. People today rely heavily on mapping app and so do I. Without map software, I believe I will lost the way when I’m driving. But when there was no software before, everyone used paper maps and asked others to solve problems. So just like what you did in the video, when we get out of the map software, every step we take is determined by ourselves, sometimes we get lost, sometimes we go back to an inaccessible road, but we end up will definitely find the right way.
Hi Angel,
Thank you for sharing your art piece on the wooden slices! I thought it was beautiful and also found that it really showed how we are so not in touch with our passions, but complain without actually accessing where our time and efforts go into. Social media is a great tool to connect with people and gain inspiration but sometimes we are too absorbed where we forget our initial sparks of interests. I think it is so valuable that you were able to gain back the time to paint and really have time to yourself. We often times complain that we do not have enough hobbies because we have no time, but if we were to make time and really drive our schedule to exclude unnecessary time wasted on social media, we can find new hobbies. This is so difficult because just like saying we don’t have time to gym, we can always reprioritize our schedules and find time for what we really want when we are disciplined to do so.
Hi Haley,
I really enjoyed watching how you operate your maze art project. I thought that it was so creative and it really reflects the difficulty you expressed in being unable to have access to google maps. Google maps and other navigation applications seem so vital and necessary in our lives today or atleast in our generation. Without these applications we are left without any guidance. It is almost amazing how our parents were able to get around without having such a useful tool. I think your maze art project clearly identifies the struggle of being unable to find where and how to get to places without some shortcut.
Hi Cherry Nguyen, I must say that your project is so interesting and creative. I love your use of materials in the work, advertisement paper with the coupons and real money bills, which represent the coupon saving supermarket app and the extra money people spent when depriving from these apps. I think your project perfectly expresses a strong message to the audience that people today cannot leave technology. Your project points out to a very important truth of technology: technology is so powerful that we suffer loss when we try to get rid of it. Really creative work and fascinating idea. My only advice is to extend more materials, may be a use of credit card or phone that represent the electronic money.
Hi Angel Wahbi
Different with others, your goal to delete your ins is really strange but charmful. I cannot agree more that the social media always make people do not know what is the important thing for them. In your program I feel your enthusiasm and your determination. Sincerely wish you can go further with your dream. The only advice from me is that I want to see more paints from you and I want to know the compartion from your paints before you delete ins.
Best wishes
I really enjoyed looking at Haley’s project. I, myself, am also very dependent on any and every type of navigation app, especially Maps. I use the app so much, I honestly don’t think I would be able to make it to even seven days. I loved how she portrayed the difficulty of arriving to her destinations without the help of a navigation app with a maze. I really like how she used three different traffic signal color beads inside it and a circle base to represent the car handle. It took a while for the beads to exit, but they still managed to find their way out. By watching the video and simply thinking of how she did the two weeks without a navigation app, I completely understand how frustrated she was feeling.
Hello, Cherry Nguyen
I really like your program because it is really useful and realistic. As a Chinese student I have the same experience with you . For Chinese, there is a application on iphone called Dealmoon. Which always post some discount information and as a result, many students will devote themselves into the discound activites and then most of them will spend much more money they planned. From your program I learned a fact that the best way to save money is to ignore the discount. The only advice from me is that I wish to see more result which based on data and statistics so that it can have a more obvious comparsion in your program.
Hi Alvin Nguyen, I have to say that your project is so interesting and intriguing! I love your idea of letting people drag the little guy, which represents ourselves, to catch the two apps because it is what people are doing every day: we are basically finding every single moment when we can use social media. I think your project perfectly reflects reality and also our theme for this class: how technology affects people and how people react to technology. Really creative work and fascinating idea. Thank you for this great project!
Hi Blanca Aldana
I am really admire your courage to uninstall all your social media application. That is the thing which I can never do, but after I read your program, I started to think whether I also need to do it. In most cases, I always think that I cannot live without the social media. I make use of them to communication, to touch the world, to learn knowledge and touch entertainment. As time passes, I have come to rely on these application. As the consequence, even though I have so many friends but I nearly only contact them on the social media, the only thing which lie between us are the words consisted of data. After reading your program, I started to think about it , If I did it so, can I have a more close relationship with them? Your program gives me the confidence. And for my advice, Can I know more about the change between you and your friends, such as in communication, daliy life and the realtion ship, that is what I want to know more.
Hi,
My friendship with my friends grew, we became closer and told each other more about ourselves. We were able to be more open with each other. The bonds between my roommates and I became stronger than ever. I began to admire the value of friendships because without my friends I feel like I wouldn’t have been able to last as long as I did.
Hi Angel,
I really liked your painting on the wooden slice, it is a stunning image to look at. Like you, I feel that social media has taken up much of my time and thanks to this project, I realized that I need to put my phone away more often. Most of the time we believe that we have a healthy relationship with our technology, we say that we are not “addicted” to our phones, but I see now that there is some problem with our constant use of social media. Especially, when we stop doing things we enjoy to spend more time socializing online. When I’m not on my phone, I tend to enjoy the smaller things in life, as you said. I find myself enjoying how the sky looks and start paying attention to the details around me. Hopefully, we can change our habits and make more time for other productive activities-whether it is spending time with friends, reading, exercising, drawing, etc.
Hi Bianca,
I love how simple yet effective your project is. By posting images of yourself you put yourself out there and leave yourself vulnerable. We can see the clear shift in mood from where you seem happy in the first picture to looking frustrated in the third picture. By taking pictures of yourself where you’re looking down sadly, we can see your mood is sad. Good job sticking to your goal, and keeping these apps off your phone.
Hi Alvin,
I enjoyed your interactive project! Even though I saw the presentation of your project in class, I decided to try it again myself. I thought it was very cleaver to make the screen darker after opening each app. It really showed me how addicting these applications can be and overwhelming it can be. Great perspective on deprivation!
This is an amazing class! Honestly, I thought my project was going to present in front of everyone, but I might thought too much haha. well, after I take a look on my classmates’ project, I felt a lot of interest souls exists around me. from a selfie to a video, from a video to a game, from a game to a poem, from a poem to a theater scripts. it’s just too many good ideas appeared suddenly. I think the last one shocked me the most because it takes years to finish it based one what she /he said. the painting looks beautiful just. the blue sky and the warm lower part of the painting. it’s just so amazing! wonderful art class, love to take it again!
Hi Haley,
I really enjoyed the presentation of your project. I thought it was incredibly creative to construct a maze to highlight what your deprivation experience was like. I can totally relate to your experience as I consistently use Google Maps everyday in order to get around. I don’t really memorize street signs as it’s just easy to look at the navigation instead. I remember one time my phone battery died, so I was unable to navigate my way back home, which made me feel very anxious and scared, so it made me realize how important this app is to me. I think that I would agree with you that I can’t live without GPS either since it’s been such a helpful tool in guiding my direction everyday.
Hey Jude,
I thought it was very brave of you to have used painting as a medium for your project considering you do not think of your painting skills as amazing. Most of the time we feel discouraged to do something out of our comfort zone because we might not do so well; but in your case, your art project was great. I liked the colors you chose to use in your painting as they demonstrate how dull/boring your time without your tv was inside your house, as opposed to the “outside”, in which you show more vibrant colors.
Hi Alvin Nguyen,
I really liked your website project. Where you have to drag the stick figure to the social media apps. As you drag them upon across the screen becomes more dim until all black reaches. What I really liked it that it displays how humans are reliant to using these apps everyday in their lives. As we do not have access to it daily we start becoming really depressed in not being able to become aware of what are friends are doing online. As that without any access to these apps we would not be able to know what to do next with our lives without the apps.
Hi Xin Xia (Lucy)
I really enjoyed watching your video and I can relate to it a lot. I am someone that has a look when it comes to social media and I try my best to only post pictures I know that highlight my features. I never take pictures on my “bad side” and always, always, edit my posts on instagram or twitter. There is not one inch on my pictures that are left untouched. Even though I never photoshop my face to look like someone else, I still change the picture from how it was originally taken. I always catch myself playing around with the features that change the shape of your face and see what I look like with bigger eyes, a smaller nose, a wider smile, or smaller teeth. But I quickly catch myself and remove all those edits because I know how self deprecating that can get. I loved how you started off with a bare face and ended the video with a bare face, to show that how you are is how you should be and its ok to not always look 100% photoshopped or edited in real life. Because real life isn’t like social media and you video very clearly explains that.
I really enjoyed Haileys project. Unlike her, I am very good with navigation and I really only need my gps for the first time. I find it very intriguing that not everyone is like that. For example my gf, she always needs her gps. There isn’t a time in the car where she doesn’t either use the gps on her phone, or where she has to ask me for step by step directions to get to where we are going. I believe that the idea of making a maze is a perfect representation of not being able to navigate.
Hi Allison,
I really enjoyed watching your sims show what you experienced during your deprivation. I can definitely relate to social media being something that takes a lot of my time and something that can be very distracting. There has been times where I’ve almost missed deadlines because I was so distracted by twitter or instagram. I think time passes by very fast when you are scrolling through different timelines that you don’t realize how much time was used to check your phone until you put it down. Maybe you can relate to having to completely turn off your phone when studying, because that is the only way I can make sure to get my work done, otherwise I will spend hours doing one assignment simply because I take long breaks in between on my phone. It also shows how unproductive it can be. There are so many fun things to do on sims (aka in real life as well), and she could’ve gotten to do other things if she finished her homework. But because she was constantly checking her phone, it took up too much time and she couldn’t do other fun things. This video really puts into perspective how time consuming and impractical social media can be.
Alvin Nguyen
I think your website is really interesting. When the screen turns black in the end, I am really get in crazy. In the final exam, I often abandon these social software, although it will let me review the final exam. But I also go to art galleries, coffee shops or play with other friends during the review period. I also had a lot of good-looking photos to share at that time, but I held back. Everyone will start to ask me what I’ve been doing recently, they can’t see my news. Some people are even upset and think something is wrong with me. Or they thought that I didn’t want to be friends with them anymore. But the funny thing is, when my term is over, I start sharing my pictures continuously, everyone sees me when they are looking through the instagram. And they start to tell me to stop sharing the pictures. Cause, they cannot see other people’s daily life.
Hi Alvin,
You are the first person I’ve seen that has an interactive presentation and I think that is really engaging. But my favorite part was the screen getting darker every time you tried to open up the app. I interpreted this as turning off your phone after every time you checked to use snapchat or instagram. It just keeps getting darker and darker until you eventually stop checking. But I also see it as you being in the dark the whole time when it comes to your friends and families social life. This project also highlights how addicting technology can get and how some people are willing to go through the trouble of chasing it in order to have it in the end. And it shows in the fact that I dragged the little guy until the very end even though I only needed to drag it a couple times to get the idea. Overall I really enjoyed the way you interpreted your perspective of the deprivation!
Hey Blanca!
I enjoyed your art piece a lot! In your artists description, your description of a phone without social media as “an expensive alarm clock” very accurate. You really challenged my perspective on what the importance of having a phone is. For me the primary purposes of a phone include: communication through calls and texts and social media. I definitely related to how you described your phone as an “expensive alarm clock” which really shows how much social media adds to the experience of a smart phone. However I’d like to argue that there is still value in a phone without social media, as you can check for emails and and use the camera, especially because nowadays companies are investing more into the camera aspect of smartphones.
I really enjoyed Haley’s project and her creative idea on creating a maze. All my friends know I am someone who is terrible at directions. Whenever I think I should go one way, the actual correct way would be the complete opposite. I thought it was really interesting how you used the circular shape to represent the car handle. Through your project, you depicted what your life was like when you were unable to use Google Maps. I sensed the frustration because it was like the beads were almost to the exit but not quite which also made me anxious just watching. I give major props to you for being able to give up Google Maps because I honestly use it every single day. I relate to that feeling of being anxious without Google Maps because the app gives us a sense of security knowing that we will be given a set of instructions that will 100% get us to our destination and we simply just need to follow the directions. I never want to waste any time making wrong turns or taking the wrong roads. I get a little flustered whenever I waste time knowing I can spend that time doing something else more productive. I also felt like it was safer to have Google Maps ready just in case I did make a wrong turn because I would have to keep driving until I can find a safe spot to pull over and figure out where I am. But overall, I thought you did an amazing job finding a unique way to clearly depict your life without Google Maps
Hey Angel Wahbi,
I really liked your project and how it is a literal statement to how our captivation with social media can cause us to lose track of who we are and what we love doing. It really did a good job of conveying how until we slow down our lives and realize this we’ll never see how we are literally losing ourselves due to social and digital media. Its also a very nice painting and I just love the execution of the project as well as the intense meaning behind it.
Hi Alvin,
I really enjoyed your project! What stood out to me the most was that your project was an interactive web application. Aside from how much thought and detail went into creating this project, I think this medium also shows how powerful technology can be because this is a new art. This project would not have been able to exist without technology and it’s intriguing how a digital art was made from the absence of digital media. Based on this digital form of art, would you say that society is evolving towards a new trend of digital art to enjoy? I think this is prevalent especially how I see more your children playing phone games or on tablets and less kids playing with physical toys. How do you think newer generations will see art?
Hey Okechukwu Chukwuma,
I really liked your project, i think it is an amazing idea to convey your feelings that were evoked during your deprivation experience. I like how the picture looks scary and ominous as many would feel at the thought of losing their phones or some aspect of them. I see how the picture makes it seem like you are being overloaded with information especially since you combine 85 different photos.
Hello Nicole Sandoval,
I really liked your project, it really made me see how chaotic our world is and how we are constantly being flooded with information and news from around the world due to our connection to digital media. It also made me see how disconnected from events that happen outside our bubble if those same sources of digital media were to suddenly disappear. It was a really good project and evoked a lot of emotion from me. One critique I have would be to maybe use different news clips although i still believe that you still did a great job of delivering the message despite the fact.
Hi, Xin Xia (Lucy)
Your video is very impressive. People actually want to be perfect in their photos. Some people use a lot of Photoshop to achieve their ideal look, but at the same time they ignore their true look. More seriously, they will start to abandon their looks and feel that they are not perfect, so use plastic surgery to achieve their most ideal look. But what I want to say is that we should love our most primitive look, the most primitive look is the most authentic look. Being the most authentic one is the most beautiful.
I found Hsiao-Ting Huang’s project to be fascinating. The artwork itself was amazing, it clearly reflected their feelings during the deprivation process. The description was really insightful and brought to my attention the reality of dating apps. Not many people deprived themselves of dating apps and I found it interesting that you did. Your response to feeling isolated, I feel was the same as the majority of us that did this project. It made me realize that it didn’t really matter what type of digital media we deprived ourselves of in order to feel isolated. People who rely on digital media on a daily basis are prone to react the same way.
Angel!
Your wood painting is very beautiful! I think using wood as a medium for your painting was a great choice and I like how you were doing these pieces even before this class. This project really communicates a sense of who you are through this medium especially because these types of pieces are something you have been previously working on. Again, the wood slice is a powerful medium to use. In my understanding, the wood has a direct connotation to nature, which is typically the opposite of technology. This was a good contrast which describes how you when from end (technology) and through the process of digital deprivation, ended on the other side of the spectrum (nature aka your wood painting). I agree with you that Instagram can be a replacement for passions (especially art) because we see Instagram as a medium to show the world who we are. Showing how you brought back your motivation to art really highlights how much technology has risen to become almost an type of art medium.
Hi,Blanca Aldana,
I like your idea very much. But I have no confidence to try. Because I feel that I can’t do anything without using these things, these have become my daily routine. But bad things are, I spend a lot of time using these apps every day, they start to affect my sleep quality, and I gradually start to lose my focus. When I was lying in bed, as soon as I turned on my phone and watched YouTube, I didn’t want to sleep at all. After reading your sharing, I am now trying to go to bed without use my phone, instead of to read or listen to music. I find that I will fall asleep quickly.
Hi Holly,
I really enjoyed your deprivation project. The use of a play and script provide a lot of room for symbolism and deeper writing which you definitely took advantage of. The story was a good combination of symbolism and direct application of your digital media deprivation. Having the main character Daisy enter a situation similar to yours was a good way to communicate the experience of digital media deprivation. Powerful symbols such as the waterfall also stood out and provided a deeper understanding to the deprivation experience. I like how you chose to a natural setting like the wilderness. It is such a stark contrast to the society we live in, especially within the context of Irvine, where social media and technology play a big role in the tone of the environment. From my perspective, Yosemite is a symbol of the beauty your peace and self care without the use of social media that you found during your deprivation experience.
Hi, Haley Kim,
I think your idea is very creative. People today rely heavily on mapping app and so do I. Without map software, I believe I will lost the way when I’m driving. But when there was no software before, everyone used paper maps and asked others to solve problems. So just like what you did in the video, when we get out of the map software, every step we take is determined by ourselves, sometimes we get lost, sometimes we go back to an inaccessible road, but we end up will definitely find the right way.
Hi Angel,
Thank you for sharing your art piece on the wooden slices! I thought it was beautiful and also found that it really showed how we are so not in touch with our passions, but complain without actually accessing where our time and efforts go into. Social media is a great tool to connect with people and gain inspiration but sometimes we are too absorbed where we forget our initial sparks of interests. I think it is so valuable that you were able to gain back the time to paint and really have time to yourself. We often times complain that we do not have enough hobbies because we have no time, but if we were to make time and really drive our schedule to exclude unnecessary time wasted on social media, we can find new hobbies. This is so difficult because just like saying we don’t have time to gym, we can always reprioritize our schedules and find time for what we really want when we are disciplined to do so.
Hi Haley,
I really enjoyed watching how you operate your maze art project. I thought that it was so creative and it really reflects the difficulty you expressed in being unable to have access to google maps. Google maps and other navigation applications seem so vital and necessary in our lives today or atleast in our generation. Without these applications we are left without any guidance. It is almost amazing how our parents were able to get around without having such a useful tool. I think your maze art project clearly identifies the struggle of being unable to find where and how to get to places without some shortcut.
Hi Cherry Nguyen, I must say that your project is so interesting and creative. I love your use of materials in the work, advertisement paper with the coupons and real money bills, which represent the coupon saving supermarket app and the extra money people spent when depriving from these apps. I think your project perfectly expresses a strong message to the audience that people today cannot leave technology. Your project points out to a very important truth of technology: technology is so powerful that we suffer loss when we try to get rid of it. Really creative work and fascinating idea. My only advice is to extend more materials, may be a use of credit card or phone that represent the electronic money.
Hi Angel Wahbi
Different with others, your goal to delete your ins is really strange but charmful. I cannot agree more that the social media always make people do not know what is the important thing for them. In your program I feel your enthusiasm and your determination. Sincerely wish you can go further with your dream. The only advice from me is that I want to see more paints from you and I want to know the compartion from your paints before you delete ins.
Best wishes
I really enjoyed looking at Haley’s project. I, myself, am also very dependent on any and every type of navigation app, especially Maps. I use the app so much, I honestly don’t think I would be able to make it to even seven days. I loved how she portrayed the difficulty of arriving to her destinations without the help of a navigation app with a maze. I really like how she used three different traffic signal color beads inside it and a circle base to represent the car handle. It took a while for the beads to exit, but they still managed to find their way out. By watching the video and simply thinking of how she did the two weeks without a navigation app, I completely understand how frustrated she was feeling.
Hello, Cherry Nguyen
I really like your program because it is really useful and realistic. As a Chinese student I have the same experience with you . For Chinese, there is a application on iphone called Dealmoon. Which always post some discount information and as a result, many students will devote themselves into the discound activites and then most of them will spend much more money they planned. From your program I learned a fact that the best way to save money is to ignore the discount. The only advice from me is that I wish to see more result which based on data and statistics so that it can have a more obvious comparsion in your program.
Hi Alvin Nguyen, I have to say that your project is so interesting and intriguing! I love your idea of letting people drag the little guy, which represents ourselves, to catch the two apps because it is what people are doing every day: we are basically finding every single moment when we can use social media. I think your project perfectly reflects reality and also our theme for this class: how technology affects people and how people react to technology. Really creative work and fascinating idea. Thank you for this great project!
Hi Blanca Aldana
I am really admire your courage to uninstall all your social media application. That is the thing which I can never do, but after I read your program, I started to think whether I also need to do it. In most cases, I always think that I cannot live without the social media. I make use of them to communication, to touch the world, to learn knowledge and touch entertainment. As time passes, I have come to rely on these application. As the consequence, even though I have so many friends but I nearly only contact them on the social media, the only thing which lie between us are the words consisted of data. After reading your program, I started to think about it , If I did it so, can I have a more close relationship with them? Your program gives me the confidence. And for my advice, Can I know more about the change between you and your friends, such as in communication, daliy life and the realtion ship, that is what I want to know more.
Hi,
My friendship with my friends grew, we became closer and told each other more about ourselves. We were able to be more open with each other. The bonds between my roommates and I became stronger than ever. I began to admire the value of friendships because without my friends I feel like I wouldn’t have been able to last as long as I did.
Hi Angel,
I really liked your painting on the wooden slice, it is a stunning image to look at. Like you, I feel that social media has taken up much of my time and thanks to this project, I realized that I need to put my phone away more often. Most of the time we believe that we have a healthy relationship with our technology, we say that we are not “addicted” to our phones, but I see now that there is some problem with our constant use of social media. Especially, when we stop doing things we enjoy to spend more time socializing online. When I’m not on my phone, I tend to enjoy the smaller things in life, as you said. I find myself enjoying how the sky looks and start paying attention to the details around me. Hopefully, we can change our habits and make more time for other productive activities-whether it is spending time with friends, reading, exercising, drawing, etc.