ThinkIR: The University of Louisville\u27s Institutional Repository
Abstract
We are shaped by technology. This simple idea has become more familiar to social scientists, technical engineers, and some tech users. The first section of this thesis finds unfavorable consequences of constant social media usage, such as unawareness, behavioral and cogitative modifications, and disconnection as societal ills. The second part of this thesis explains how these social side effects can be best ameliorated by “serious” designers, or those whose work is conceptual with real world applications (McLuhan, 8). The final section proposes a creative expression as it relates to bringing awareness to the social side effects of tech usage, linking the first and second sections by theory put to practice. I propose a designer’s creativity as the technique by which interactions with technology and people should progress. If we proceed as we are, our future ostensibly leans toward virtual realities that have the potential to deconstruct the human element
