Many different groups of people are currently addressing the issues surrounding social media and cell phone usage, whether that be through commercials, documentaries, or printed material. You may have noticed some of the commercials with people walking around with their nose in their phones. Or that many parents are so focused on capturing photos of their child instead of experiencing the moment. Some of the documentaries address the amount of content specifically created for social media by “famous” individuals. Others discuss the impacts of social media on our children and their mental health. I feel that there is such an overload of content-driven material that people are unable to decipher or understand what is virtual reality and what is not. For example people will see a video on the internet of someone sky diving and thus they feel that they have experienced that as well. Something that I feel is necessary to emphasize, is that I am not saying the cell phone is terrible and doesn’t serve a purpose. Instead I feel that it is the actions taken by society that should be focused upon. The experiences and behaviors of social media consumers will make up the majority of my thesis work. The most apparent targeted behavior is the act of looking down at our phones. This is a byproduct of using our phones when we are doing everything and has created a great deal of problems in modern society. Inattentiveness to one’s surroundings while using cell phones has led to very abrasive actions and even dangerous behaviors. The next action I want to address is the inability of individuals to look past their phones in order to experience things apart from the virtual world they have created. I am suggesting that we are creating a more virtual world rather than an actual reality based world. We are experiencing the world, the views, and the adventures through our phones rather than in real time. As a result to all of these behavioral influences from cell-phone use, there are potential anxiety and mental health problems that can come from over stimulation and exposure to constant notifications and content. If I am able to create visual awareness of these behaviors, then I am hopeful that it might encourage viewers to set their phones down and experience more of life without their phones. Therefore, in response to the actions of looking down at our phones, inability to set down or view the world not through our phones, and the anxiety that is present for many individuals, I would like to create an interactive or involved experience for a viewer. This interactive experience will including three “phone screens” in front of a back wall with an influx of beautiful or experiential pictures that many people should see or do. The phone will in turn be images of all of those things in the feeds of Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat. These constant scrolling feeds will continue to draw your attention to it rather than the back wall. I will also include the sounds and symbols of notifications that will continue to be pushed towards the viewers which will provide angst to the viewers. I feel that we as a society, are addicted to our cell phones because of the ease of use. Everyone is walking around with this amazing technology in our pockets and at the click of a button we have access to others across the globe. With this great power as a society we need to act responsibly and be aware of the negative effects. In comparison to the 1950’s through the 1990’s where televisions became an important part of the American culture. We can see a similar path or correlation with the use of cell phones and TV where people are engrossed in the devices constantly.