Dear amigos.
Below is an extract from my PhD proposal. This September 2018, I will begin practice based research, on a project we are all very familar with - social media, or more specifically, the dangers of it! It will explore the good, the bad and the virtue signalling, aiming to use actual experiences (many of these are actual observations and interactions with some very troubled and unpleasant individuals), to create new music. Here is a short extract. Live long a propser. Matt
Matthew Sear – PhD - Composition Proposal – Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance – March 2018
The System Has Crashed - Music informed by online conflict.
The constant need to check online was coined by the Psychologist Goldberg, as ‘PID’, or Pathological Internet Disorder. This term was given to people specifically, whose happiness, was defined by how their posts fared – (i.e how many likes/shares they received, for a comment made or link shared) - the praise, or lack of praise, directly affected their self esteem and mood. Adam Alter, author of the renowned addiction book ‘Irresistible; The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked’ points to this directly, saying that the iPhone’s pre installed news and social media apps, encourage the user almost instantly, to become engaged with their device, wanting to begin a dialogue with others online. A growing number of psychologists have found that an increasing number of people are becoming addicted to continually checking reactions to their posts – for example, how many ‘likes’ they received.
Worryingly, it is not just the amount of time we spend online that is a cause for concern. In a survey carried out by Dr Dawn Bradley in 2013, Bradley found that sixty percent of people interviewed, reported experiencing heart palpultations disturbed sleep, as well as feelings of depression, after an online argument. The online world is clearly to be taken as seriously as the material one we live. The question my research project is going to answer, is how could a new body of work respond to these issues.
