D&AD New Blood 21Grams - Myopia brief
1 The Brief:
The sustained and constant use of smartphones and tablets is raising the incidence of myopia. Use the devices themselves as a tool to communicate and inspire to help solve this worsening situation. Your job is Inspire people to change their behaviour. Is there a positive habit to be formed to manage/break this habit? To do this, you will need to create an Innovative ideas embedded in digital design, from a gaming activation through to a clever use of tech.
It isn’t just screen time that is causing this rise in myopia. Other lifestyle factors such as a lack of time outdoors, and focusing on close objects for an extended period through an activity like reading can have a hugely negative effect on eye health. How can your idea encourage wider changes to people’s habits?
2 Background & Research:
The following is some of my preliminary research before working on this brief
Health:
- Results from the eye being too long or oval-shaped rather than round
- Eye drops and special contact lenses can be used to treat myopia in children to prevent long term damage
- low levels of vitamin D, poor diet and lack of outside light exposure have been found to also be contributors to myopia.
Impact:
- Myopia to become a leading cause of permanent blindness worldwide
- 50% increase of Myope’s since 2000
- Increases the risk of glaucoma
Targets
- Children in lower socioeconomical settings are at risk due to not having access to healthier food and resources.
- Starts to develop after the age of 10 years
For young people, research into US teenagers from Common Sense Media indicates they spend most of their screen time watching TV or videos (3hrs 16mins). Hot on its heels are:
Gaming (1hr 46mins)
Social media (1hr 27mins)
Browsing websites (51 minutes)
Other (29 minutes)
Video chatting (20 minutes)
E-reading (15 minutes)
Content creation (14 minutes)
Socioeconomic disparity:
In another eye-opening piece of data, young people’s screen time is also influenced by how much their families earn. US teens from lower-income households (< $35,000 per year) spend an average of 9hrs 19mins every day on their screens. This is a staggering 2hrs 3mins more per day than what American teens from higher-income households ($100,000+ per year) spend on their devices (Common Sense Media).
3 Insight:
From this research the insight I deduced was:
The imagination is more powerful than any screen
4 Strategy:
Given this insight the strategy that we will be going with is -
Use imagination to encourage children to spend more time outside and spend less time in front of a screen
5 Proposition:
The reintegration of the imaginary friend
The Imaginary friend is dead:
- Gadgets have replaced the household imaginary friend
- Daynurseries.co.uk 2019 found that in their study less than half of their sample of 1000 nursery and childcare workers claimed their kids had imaginary friends.
- Most of those workers (63%) claimed it was due to an increase of screen time
- 2020 study in the journal of developmental science showed excessive screen time reduces mental imagery
Depiction of an imaginary friend
6 Executions:
There are three executions that I propose could be the solution to this myopia epidemic
1: A video Campaign called "The Imaginary Orphan"
2: A GPS exploration app
3: An immersive experience
7 Video Campaign:
This video product will detail the story of a boy who abandons his imaginary friend at the local imaginary friend orphanage to spend more time in front of screens. The imaginary friend then befriends a child who later adopts them, and the viewer sees them having fun without the looming threat of screens around them.
Story board of the video showing the rough progression of the video
8 GPS Exploration App:
- There's no denial that “Pokémon GO” was one of the biggest app-based games to come out in the late 2010’s
- If we can't get kids away from screens, then we can at least use them to the advantage of the child.
- This app would be like Pokémon in terms of its GPS Tech to have kids and young adults spend more time exploring the environment around them but instead of catching creatures you would be going out and exploring the world with your imaginary friend and doing quests to deepen your bond with them such as taking pictures of local landmarks or wildlife.
- On top of this it would encourage joining communities and friends who also use the app due to being able to acquire copies of friend's imaginary friends who visit your Imaginary friend to keep them company when the app isn’t in use.
Example of Pokémon Go
9 Immersive Experience (The Imagitorium):
Centre for displaced imaginary friends otherwise known as the Imagitorium is an immersive problem-solving space where kids can go and interact with an imaginary friend of their design using interactive AR tech similarly found in AR headsets like the Apple Vision Pro.
Centre for displaced imaginary friends otherwise known as the Imagitorium is an immersive problem-solving space where kids can go and interact with an imaginary friend of their design using interactive AR tech similarly found in AR headsets like the Apple Vision Pro.
