Lizzie Wa Design

Plan for the week:

• Set some clear goals and definitions
• Re-write my aims and objectives 
• Research the structure of connection – how it happens and why it is important 
• Reach out to a specialist  (g.sandstrom@sussex.ac.uk ) 
• Write a project outline paragraph 
• Create a 30 second trailer video

Set some clear goals and definitions

Feedback from Ben on my project so far was that I need to define and add some rigour around my project idea. I investigated my idea further to help me achieve this. 

Reconnection 

What do I mean by reconnection? In my research I found that during the pandemic it was weaker friendships and more casual interaction that were affected most dramatically (Long et al. 2022). At first I assumed that this was not that important. However, after some additional research I came to find that weaker friendships and casual connections are actually incredibly important. 

It is likely that we are quite similar to close friends and family and often have similar life experiences and opinions. Weaker connections have more diversity of opinions, experiences and support (Long et al. 2022). 

Gillian Sandstrom senior lecturer in psychology at the University of Essex found that participants with larger networks of weak ties tended to be happier overall, and that on days when a participant had a greater number of casual interactions with weak ties – say, a local barista, a neighbour, a member of yoga class – they experienced more happiness and a greater sense of belonging (Leslie 2020). People feel happier on days that they have more ‘weak-tie’ social interactions (Sandstrom and Dunn 2014). People who were asked to “personalise” a  transaction at a coffee shop by smiling, making eye contact, and having a genuine social interaction with their barista, felt about 17% happier and more socially connected than those who were asked to be “efficient”(Sandstrom and Dunn 2013).

While the content of the conversations with our “happenstance” or “circumstance” friends may not hold the emotional weight of intimate relationships, their presence in our everyday lives matters a great deal to our psychological well-being (Degges-White 2020). They often provide us with new information and more variety, so we are often pleasantly surprised by these moments (Sandstrom and Whillans 2020).

In a normal day, people interact with somewhere between 11 and 16 weak ties on the way to work, while running errands, or on a break between meetings at the office (Sandstrom and Whillans 2020). A lot of these casual and spontaneous conversations happen at work, in shops, at the gym etc. all activities that the pandemic has stopped or limited for many. That means to keep these going or build these back up, we need to now put in more effort. Something people are mostly uncomfortable with the idea of doing.

“This is because we aren’t sure if the other person will be interested, and we worry that these conversations will be uncomfortable. Luckily, these fears are unfounded. When people are assigned to talk to weak ties and strangers, these conversations are more enjoyable and go more smoothly than people predict.” (Sandstrom and Whillans 2020).

This has made me interested in the idea of creating space for these casual and spontaneous interactions to happen. They are underrated, important for our wellbeing and something we need more practise in nurturing. They also offer a starting point for deeper and more long lasting connections to be created.

Why reconnection?

I am interested in the idea of reconnection due to its positive effects on wellbeing. Using connection to promote joy. “Social support, referring to the psychological and material resources provided through social interaction, is a critical mechanism through which social relationships benefit health. In fact, social support has been shown to be one of the most important resilience factors in the aftermath of stressful events.” (Long et al. 2022). Therefore connection should not only boost wellbeing and reduce feelings of loneliness, but also help us to recover and process the stressful emotions many of us have related to the pandemic. 

“Loneliness is as deadly as obesity or smoking 15 cigarettes a day.”

(King 2022)

Fundamentals of creating feelings of connection 

Meeting in person is important – we see people for who they really are not who they project themselves as on social media. “Positive social interactions – making eye contact, listening to one another, placing a hand on another’s shoulder can activate physical responses in our bodies that lower stress.” (King 2022).

Strategically thinking about social interactions – or networking- does not create the same positive emotions and experiences in most people. 

Reciprocity is important – expecting to give rather than receive helps to build relationships 

People are wired to connect best as pairs (King 2022). 

Other things that seem to be important are finding common ground with others (Brauer 2017), creating a feeling of trust (Capps 2012). 

Keep a conversation to around 10 minds maximum and start with sharing something personal. “Sharing aspects of yourself helps to build positive rapport and encourages the other person to reciprocate” (Sandstrom and Whillans 2020).

Explore further: https://www.cse.wustl.edu/~m.neumann/fl2017/cse316/materials/strength_of_weak_ties.pdf 

Re-write my aims and objectives 

Aim: I aim to use play as a tool to help people (initially local to me but with an idea that could potentially be used in other areas of the UK) to rediscover casual or weak tie connections to widen their pool of influences, boost wellbeing and aid in the recovery from upsetting experiences during the pandemic (Long et al. 2022). Play is my tool to make a process for connection. I chose play as it is fun and engaging and it has multiple benefits for wellbeing, recovery from traumatic events and helps to create feelings of connection (Mind the Interior 2019).  

Objectives:

• To encourage local people to interact with my outcome alongside people outside of their close circle of friends and family.
• To create situations where people have something to offer others as a way of initiating connection 
• To allow strangers to find a sense of common ground with each other. 
• To create a fun and stress free environment for interactions to take place. 

Purpose: The purpose of this project is to help people to rediscover the chance connections that were reduced due to the pandemic to boost their wellbeing in the wake of the pandemic. 

Project outline paragraph 

Humans are wired to connect (Martino et al. 2015). It negatively affects our mental health and even our physical health when we feel lonely (King 2022). During the pandemic however, we were forced to retreat away from social connections overnight. It was weaker friendships and more casual interactions that were affected most dramatically by this (Long et al. 2022), so those are the kind of interactions I plan to focus on in my project. While at first it might appear as if these connections are not very important, research shows they offer more diversity of opinions, experiences and support (Long et al. 2022) and they boost wellbeing and feelings of belonging (Leslie 2020).

I plan to use play as a tool to create an opportunity for casual connection. Play seems to be a good way of achieving this as it is fun and engaging and it has multiple benefits for wellbeing, recovery from traumatic events and helps to create feelings of connection (Mind the Interior 2019).  

My project will explore how to successfully use play as a way to help people rediscover the chance connections that were reduced due to the pandemic, to boost their wellbeing in the wake of the pandemic. 

Moodboards

I started to think about some visual research around my project idea and created a couple of moodboards. I think colour plays a really important part in play and playful design so I pulled out some colours from the moodboards.

Trailer Video

I used the visual research from my moodboards to create some visuals for my 30 second trailer video.

Video Script: We are wired to connect. It negatively affects our mental health and even our physical health when we feel lonely. 

The pandemic crushed connection for many, especially casual connections that are more important than you think. They broaden horizons, offer more varied experiences and boost your sense of well being and belonging. 

Play is colourful, fun, healing and underused by adults, 

My project brings these together and asks, in a post pandemic world, how can play help us to reconnect? 

Reference list

BRAUER, Chris. 2017. “How Humans Find Common Ground – and the Science behind It.” Huffington Post [online]. Available at: https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/chris-brauer/chris-brauer-common-ground_b_15957494.html.

CAPPS, Rob. 2012. “First Impressions: The Science of Meeting People.” Wired [online]. Available at: https://www.wired.com/2012/11/amy-cuddy-first-impressions/ [accessed 1 Mar 2022].

DEGGES-WHITE, Suzanne. 2020. “Casual Friendships Are a Key to Happiness | Psychology Today United Kingdom.” http://www.psychologytoday.com [online]. Available at: https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/lifetime-connections/202007/casual-friendships-are-key-happiness [accessed 1 Mar 2022].

KING, Marissa. 2022. Social Chemistry : Decoding the Patterns of Human Connection. New York: Dutton, An Imprint Of Penguin Random House.

LESLIE, Ian. 2020. “Why Your ‘Weak-Tie’ Friendships May Mean More than You Think.” http://www.bbc.com [online]. Available at: https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20200701-why-your-weak-tie-friendships-may-mean-more-than-you-think.

LONG, Emily et al. 2022. “COVID-19 Pandemic and Its Impact on Social Relationships and Health.” J Epidemiol Community Health [online]. Available at: https://jech.bmj.com/content/76/2/128.

MARTINO, Jessica, Jennifer PEGG and Elizabeth Pegg FRATES. 2015. “The Connection Prescription: Using the Power of Social Interactions and the Deep Desire for Connectedness to Empower Health and Wellness.” American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine 11(6), [online], 466–75. Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6125010/.

MIND THE INTERIOR. 2019. “WHY YOU SHOULD NEVER STOP PLAYING – Playscapes for Adults.” Mind the interior [online]. Available at: https://mindtheinterior.com/playscapes-why-you-should-never-stop-playing/ [accessed 12 Feb 2022].

SANDSTROM, Gillian M. and Elizabeth W. DUNN. 2013. “Is Efficiency Overrated?: Minimal Social Interactions Lead to Belonging and Positive Affect.” Social Psychological and Personality Science 5(4), 437–42.

SANDSTROM, Gillian M. and Elizabeth W. DUNN. 2014. “Social Interactions and Well-Being: The Surprising Power of Weak Ties.” Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 40(7), 910–22.

SANDSTROM, Gillian and Ashley WHILLANS. 2020. “Why You Miss Those Casual Friends so Much.” Harvard Business Review [online]. Available at: https://hbr.org/2020/04/why-you-miss-those-casual-friends-so-much.

WIEST, Brianna. 2019. “Connection Is a Core Human Need, but We Are Terrible at It.” Medium [online]. Available at: https://forge.medium.com/if-connection-is-our-core-human-need-then-why-are-we-so-bad-at-it-a904ae486a48.