Social Fabric - Experiential Design for Social Anxiety

The recent development of social media like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat has extended our individual social networks and widened our social circles. For socially anxious people, increased communication via social media has also lead to decreased exposure to communication in real-life situations; this, in turn, has lead to lessened social comfort in their daily lives, and increased anxiety and panic in social situations. This study addressed the cultural contexts of social anxiety as well as the needs of socially anxious people by engaging them in joyful, low-stress social experiences. The result of this research was the development of a visual framework for mitigating social anxiety in group settings that can be applied in different social contexts. Research methods such as material practice and self-inquiry played crucial roles in this study by contributing to the investigation of the research contexts as well as the emergent design outcomes.