Digital Entertainment Machine

When was the last time you took your phone out of your pocket to kill time or take a break from your workday? Do you recharge by streaming or gaming when you're finally done with the day's chores?

Digital entertainment is no longer a niche phenomenon, but for most people it has become a part of their daily rhythms to an extent that was unimaginable in the age of mass media. 

 Digital entertainment is so pervasive that many worry about too much "screen time" or unhealthy "internet addiction". It is recommended that we unplug completely, otherwise “real” connection is impossible. But have we really become a society of sedated, lonely zombies?  Although there are many studies on the use of individual media platforms, we don't know much about how we relate to digital entertainment as a whole. The main hypothesis of the project is that entertainment media offer people a wide range of activities in everyday life. Entertainment is about escapism, but also about enlightenment, mood regulation, play, creating and maintaining social relationships, etc. 

This project is a targeted, holistic study of how ordinary people use digital entertainment in their daily lives. We will conduct a large-scale empirical study that includes interviews, ethnographic observations, digital methods and creative workshops. The goal is to find out what emotions, cultural and social connections and ultimately what moral lives emerge from our engagement with digital entertainment media.