My mission is to bring attention to the unusual, undefined, and fluid connections we have to objects through various avenues of experience. Things, objects, and devices have shaped our culture, environment, and personal philosophies. We live, grow, learn, and mourn with objects. We worship, sympathize, and relate to objects. But what I am most interested in is a human tendency to retreat to objects, allowing them to mediate experiences of friendship and intimacy between people. During my graduate studies, I have been evaluating my personal and professional connections with others in order to understand how technology such as smart phones and computers have become so intertwined in these relationships.

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Research supports that social connection is important in both humans and animals. In humans, having a cohesive support/social network system and healthy attachments in childhood predict low risk of later addiction (i.e. substance use disorder), as does perceived support from a religious or other cohesive community. Moreover, personal characteristics such as identifying as religious or spiritual can predict low risk for addiction, but little is known about the intersection of neuroscience and religion/spirituality in this regard. Conversely, adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) have repeatedly been shown to predict later addiction. However, the role of the body’s neuro-hormonal responses, such as the endogenous opioid and oxytocin systems in this process merits further exploration, such as how the production or deprivation of endogenous opioids impact later substance use patterns. Existing research also provides evidence that individuals decrease pursuit of interpersonal connections and social bonds when they use substances that activate opioid receptors. This has been found with both substances of abuse and medications used to treat addiction (e.g., methadone, buprenorphine, naltrexone). Research has also demonstrated that addiction often results in situations of social isolation. However, it remains to be elucidated whether the substances of abuse physiologically meet that need for connection. Importantly, research across numerous fields indicates that intentionally increasing interpersonal connection may be an effective treatment for addiction. However, less is known about how specific characteristics of communities impact the quantity, quality, or effectiveness of care and support for a person with addiction [...] / https://dc.etsu.edu/etsu_books/1292/thumbnail.jpg

Everyday we come up with new solutions for our existing problems. But the solutions of today are tomorrow’s problem. The products we create as designers are often bringing more complexity in our society than it is initially intended for. This thesis aims to give a new perspective on the design practice community. Instead of starting with a problem-solving scope, this thesis intent is to find what is truly meaningful for human life, meaning finding, and to propose how we can envision new ways of meaning making within interaction design. The two processes together of meaning finding and meaning making is how we can aim for concrete results that are relevant for our society. To better understand what truly matters for human life, I collected 14 stories through ethnographic research. These ethnographic stories reveal the nature of human characteristics when people face and overcome big challenges in life. Some of these ethnographic stories highlights the life of a WWII survivor, war refugee, leukaemia child-patient and a widow. Parallel, to the ethnographic work, I explored how I can evoke a deeper connection between people, by making them listen to each-other’s heartbeat.  Inevitably, by exploring the fundamental elements of human life and observing the emotions and behaviour of my interviewees and participants, the thesis find itself often on the playground between philosophy and human life. But by taking a strong interaction design perspective, these insights were manifested in the human design manifesto booklet. This booklet proposes six expressions for designers, with the intention to embrace the fundamental elements of human life when we design:  1. Design attitudes, not solutions. 2. Design the medicine of the mind. 3. Design for relationships. 4. Design for our direct senses. 5. Design for the deep human connection. 6. Design the act of kindness  Later on, for the meaning making part: one statement from the Human Design Manifesto was selected to explore in depth: Design the act of kindness. For this expression project Hidden Figures was created. Hidden Figures is a design proposal which demonstrates that a design creation can be driven by the fundamental elements of human life. In this case proposing the act of kindness as a vision on how our society could be.  In overall, this master’s thesis demonstrates how our design proposals can embody and resonate well between the three levels of design philosophy, a designer’s vision and interaction design practice: How we, as designers, can use meaning-making and meaning-finding to create more relevant impact for our society. Last, I hope this work encourages other designers to think deeply about their own creations and its impact. And help designers reflect on why they create and how they could also alternatively practice design.