My intervention, named “Touching Grass,” aims to highlight how absurd online interactions may be, how quickly they devolve into nonsense, and the minimal impact they truly make on someone’s life outside of their screen. It takes form as a point-and-click narrative, where a user plays a nameless, impartial individual walking home from the park, getting roped up in passersby’s conversations during the process. The conversations are ludicrous and satirical, heavily based on real interactions I’ve witnessed during my time scrolling through countless posts and comments. The real-life-esque characters and the pictures of real settings juxtaposed with the outlandish and unrealistically rash dialogue is meant to blur the lines between what is typically said and normalized on the Internet and what is acceptable in real life.

Growing up with easy and loosely-restricted access to the Internet has led me down various rabbit holes of creativity, community, and toxicity. I, like many other people my age, grew up using the internet to find a community within my common interests and indulged in self-expression online. However, the internet grants people the gall to say things they wouldn’t dare to say to someone’s face, let alone in real life. It was too easy for me (and others I discussed this topic with) to grow genuinely frustrated and upset at the hatred and ignorance that are sensationalized online. People on the internet often jump to conclusions, start arguments, and throw accusations over baseless assumptions, trying to be right and gain validation from the masses just to satisfy their egos. I disliked how affected I was at some text on a screen, so I taught myself to stay detached from interactions online because of the physical barrier between me and the world, which has helped me learn to not fall too deep into toxic internet culture. After all, the times where I put my phone down and go outside are the times I completely disregard and forget anything said online. The purpose of my project is to highlight how nonsensical the Internet can be, no matter how well-intentioned, and the minimal impact on life outside of a screen.

Please note that Touching Grass is still a work in progress. Due to time constraints, this website is merely a template of the final product in mind :'D

CONTENT WARNING: use of vuglar language and profanity.