How often does it feel like a meteor heading towards earth is the best option for humanity after spending time on social media?
After spending too much time on social media, I often feel drained, hopeless and like humanity is done for. Perhaps this relates to me following many news accounts and seeing a constant stream of bad news, but even the positive people I follow on social media aren't able to pull me out of the funk I get into when I start doom scrolling.
After putting together several projects in Theories in Media and Technology about social media, and the power of social media, I was looking for a way to either do something that could help make social media a less exhausting place, or find a way to make the news feel less overwhelming.
Given that I do not have access to the algorithms social media runs on, and that social media actively promotes products and ideas that create anxiety (thus encouraging people to use their platform for longer), I realized I would need to create something that lived outside of social media, perhaps was an anti-social media.
I decided to create something that would be calming for people, that let people take a break and a breath and allowed them to watch something that was both engaging and relaxing.
Enter: The Star Scroll Break.
The Star Scroll Break is a page that displays an endless stream of stars scrolling past. Amongst the stars, there's the occasional shooting star, space cat, asteroid, and dinosaur (and signs of extra-terrestrial life?) flying past as well. The scroll runs on an endless loop with crickets chirping in the background and the sound of the wind, waves and the hint of a little traffic in the background.
The scroll is meant to emulate looking up at the night sky while relaxing in nature. Mixed in with the night sky is a little humor, something to keep you engaged or catch your attention if you find yourself needing something to glance at beyond the stars.
In doing research for this project, and discussing how people were using it, many described the star scroll break as a calming page that was a good background sound to work or study to.
However you decide to use the break, I hope it brings a sense of calm to you and allows you to look at life with a bigger lens than social media can provide.
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