FAMILY
COMMUNICATION
Interactive installation
I made an interactive installation about family communication. The device is composed of two parts: a pin and a screen. People trigger different visual effects by connecting different pins.
Today, there is very little communication between families. People are always busy with their own lives and have less desire to share the difficulties or happy things in life. People prefer to share their lives with friends or lovers than with their families. The gap between families is getting deeper and deeper.
Data research on people's communication
90.5%
People use MOBILE PHONE to communicate with their parents.
Way of Communication
9.5%
People use LETTERS to communicate with their families.
35.6%
Frequency
64.4%
People contact their parents less than once a week.
People contact their parents once a week.
28%
Target
Topic
People talk to their parents when they encounter problems.
72%
When encountering problems, people choose to talk to friends.
22.4%
People don’t want to worry their parents and tell them that everything is okay.
36.4%
Recent family situations.
42.2%
Recent living conditions.
Understand
each other
51.5%
People probably know what is happening with their parents.
6.7%
People don't know anything about the current situation of their parents.
41.8%
People are very aware of the situation of their parents.
37.3%
People think that there is a generation gap with their parents.
26.7%
When a conflict occurs, people will take the initiative to solve the problem.
14%
People feel that they have no common topics with their parents.
Obstacle
Reasons for alienation
Time
People don't have time to communicate with their families.
Mobile phones take up most of our time.
Busy work occupies most of the time.
Economic
The consumption concept of modern people is different from that of parents.
Emotion
People and parents cannot resonate emotionally.
Distance
People and their families are not in the same city, which leads to fewer topics.
Parents don't respect their children's ideas.
Parents ignore the needs of their children.
Children and parents have cultural barriers.
Different values of two generations.
Five communication modes
After research, I discovered that there are many different types and levels of communication. These different types also affect the intimacy of relationships between people.
Pleasing communication
This group of people is extremely lacking in self-confidence." When they get along with others, they usually feel that they are not good enough and will unknowingly try to please others.
Blame communication
This type of person is the opposite of the pleasing personality. They are very arrogant and feel that everything is the fault of others. Like to criticize and accuse others when dealing with others.
Sensible communication
This type of people like to use objective and rational thinking when encountering problems. They usually avoid personal emotional topics and rarely involve people-related feelings.
Disruptive communication
They are unable to face the problem directly, and they always like to use other things to distract others when facing the problem. When it comes to topics that make them feel stressful, they will use other topics to distract the talker to avoid stress.
Consistent communication
They respect themselves and others, and they pay attention to themselves and others when interacting. They are steady and confident, are good at expressing their ideas, and listen carefully to the suggestions of others.
Interview
In order to understand the communication type between contemporary children and parents, I found 20 children and parents and interviewed them on the following four questions. I picked out 7 representative people to show them.
Feedback
What kind of feedback do I want to get through communication?
Communication status
What is the communication status between me and my parents.
Reason
Why do I want to communicate with children.
Topic
What topics do I want to talk to my child?
4 children
I hope to get advice and help through communication.
Qin
Age: 21
Frequency: Once a month
I don't communicate with my family when I'm in a bad mood, and I hope I can solve it. Even if I communicate with them, I will not be understood.
Zhang
Age: 24
Frequency: Every day
When I usually talk to others about my thoughts, I hope they can agree with me.
I will tell my parents most of the things because my parents understand me very well. But there is still a generation gap in individual matters.
Jiao
Age: 22
Frequency: Twice a week
When I chat with others, I just want them to listen.
Although I have different ideas from my parents, I am still willing to communicate with my parents because I still want to listen to my parents' suggestions.
Li
Age: 21
Frequency: Twice a month
I have a generation gap with my parents, and they will blame me when I encounter problems.
I hope that others will give me better advice, and I can get comfort from others.
3 parents
Ma
Age: 47
Desired frequency:
Twice a week
Children know less, have less social experience, and parents are more experienced. I hope that children can follow my advice.
I hope my children can share life, study, and social topics with me.
Hao
Age: 45
Desired frequency:
Twice a week
I am far away from my child and I am afraid of being alienated. I hope my child can be within my control.
I hope to be able to communicate with my children both in life and work.
Liang
Age: 49
Desired frequency:
Once a week
I am very worried about the child's physical and mental health, and worried that the child is under pressure, but the child is unwilling to communicate with me.
I want to know the child's mood, and his arrangements and plans for the future.
Design purpose
I find that there are communication barriers between children and their parents in this age group.
I hope that both parties are aware of their problems and the consequences of communicating in their own way. And show what results will be produced through better communication methods.
Experience keywords
Pleasing
Sensible
Blame
Disruptive
Consistent
Experience Storyboard
This is a plug-in interactive design. I will put many different plugs and sockets on the table. People use different plugs and socket links to trigger different effects on the screen, and it also corresponds to 5 ways of communication.
01
02
03
Experience concept map
This device consists of two parts. The first part is the part of the plug and the patch panel. There will be 5 pairs of plugs and power strips on the table, and people can try different combinations. The second part, when the plug and the power strip are linked together, different visual effects will be produced on the screen.
Every socket and plug is different.
The richer the elements on the screen, the healthier the communication.
01
The first step is to pick a plug and socket from the table. Different plugs and sockets represent different ways of communication.
02
The second step is to link the plug and the socket. Only a pair of plugs and sockets can be connected at the same time.
03
In the third step, after the link is completed, different visual effects will be displayed on the screen to represent different communication methods.
Wiring diagram
Processing
Arduino
Screen
Test phase
I first tested it on the computer screen to make sure that each socket and plug corresponded to the graphics. After the test was correct, I projected the graphics on the display for better visual effects.
Final effect preview
Pleasing communication
Sensible communication
Blame communication
