Still Face: What social development reveals about digital communication and screen addiction.
A short thread – Link to full article below https://thinktalkideas.com/blog/stillface 

We are biologically driven to be social creatures. The idea of communication has changed drastically since connecting to the world with our fingertips. We didn’t just change the range of who we communicate with; we changed the feedback system that determines what connection is.

The modalities of language development give insight into how we learn to interact with our environment and how this shapes the way we experience the world. Attachment and agency in social communication development rely on the modalities of:

Joint attention: when 2 ppl focus on the same object. Attention can be directed w/ gestures, eye gaze, verbal+nonverbal expressions
Reciprocity: give/take of an exchange inc. sharing intentions. 1 initiates the other responds + vice versa. Relationships are built w/ reciprocity

The Still Face experiment examined the attachment between infants + mothers- demonstrating the subjective awareness that enables us to initiate/execute/control our actions. We develop through consistent emotional responses to our actions.

Notifications mimic reciprocity by reducing communication to a measurable binary experience- replacing expressions w/ animated hearts. Like processed food- meant to act real without any of the benefits- changing our appetites, making the real less desirable than the artificial.

Its changing our bodies by affecting posture/tolerance to eye contact+relationships by diminishing intimacy.

Recognizing the digital Still Face is a matter of disconnecting from the parts of our being that yearn for connection.