Shannon Ha (Products), Elizabeth Han (Environments)
In the speculative future of 2030, the bad actors of social media activism run rampant amongst young adults, especially college students. Many use performative activism on social media as a way to display outward projections of social awareness, when in reality, their ignorance and reposting does nothing to contribute to a social movement. Our intervention is Introspect, two voice AI characters ‘Guiding Light’ and ‘Inner Shadow’, built into existing social media platforms. ‘Introspect’ encourages people who post or repost about social movements to question their own motives behind doing so and ultimately change their ways of thinking over time by evolving the types of questions being asked. The hope is that people can form their own opinion about performative activism by interacting with the dialogues. As the user ultimately decides what to post, regardless of the advice, the power is in their hands.
The Voices: ‘Guiding Light’ and ‘Inner Shadow’
Guiding Light and Inner Shadow represent two ends of a spectrum in critical thinking. ‘Guiding Light’ helps users progress through their ‘activist’ journey by questioning their motivations to promote deeper reflection and by also suggesting meaningful acts of contribution to their social cause of interest. ‘Inner Shadow’ enables the user to act upon their mindless social media habits and encourages outward projections of social awareness as opposed to intentional acts. The hope is that people can form their own opinion about performative activism by interacting with the dialogues. Since the user ultimately decides what to post, regardless of the advice, the power is in their hands.
Progress Over Time: ‘Guiding Light’ At All Levels
Overtime, the ‘Guiding Light’ would give more advanced suggestions based on the level of activism the user has engaged in. The ‘Guiding Light’ not only suggests more challenging resources for advancing users, but also asks more provocative questions for the users to come to their own conclusion about what activism means for them. This would guide the users towards viewing activism as a lifelong journey, rather than a momentary gesture.