![While researching on children & user experience yesterday, I briefly fell down the Google Image Search wormhole, landing on the above image. Although it was completely useless for what I was looking for I put it aside & later, continued searching for stock images of children using touchscreen devices. The results of this accidental search were intriguing.
A survey of the stock image titans (Corbis, Shutterstock, Getty) around the keywords “touchscreen” and “child” or “kid” with the selection criteria that [1] all images must not be device specific (e.g. not showing an ipad) and [2] images must include a full face to the camera, yielded over half a dozen very similar images. These images all feature male children that appear to be Kindergarden age and have very similar blue/ green coloring and shimmery lighting and tech themed backgrounds. Uncanny!
There’s magical about these images: maybe it’s the combination of little kids knowing how to use the touchscreens as if it’s nothing? That emotion is amplified by the oddly alike radial gradient lighting in each image appearing as halos. The silly, trite numbers background graphics work against the quiet intrigue here, rendering a palpable juxtaposition.
Although I haven’t spent time truly generating a watertight and robust dip into this apparent coincidence of stock imagery, i feel like there’s something here. These images are haunting & evocative — capturing a generation of never not knowing-technology.
awkward ones for laughs:
and one that’s rather Minority Report:
It’s as if these kids are seeing the world through technology, but it’s invisible to them— an invisible screen. Gazing into the intra-interfaces of babes (& beyond).](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ljaqawukZx1qbnq8oo1_500.jpg)
While researching on children & user experience yesterday, I briefly fell down the Google Image Search wormhole, landing on the above image. Although it was completely useless for what I was looking for I put it aside & later, continued searching for stock images of children using touchscreen devices. The results of this accidental search were intriguing.
A survey of the stock image titans (Corbis, Shutterstock, Getty) around the keywords “touchscreen” and “child” or “kid” with the selection criteria that [1] all images must not be device specific (e.g. not showing an ipad) and [2] images must include a full face to the camera, yielded over half a dozen very similar images. These images all feature male children that appear to be Kindergarden age and have very similar blue/ green coloring and shimmery lighting and tech themed backgrounds. Uncanny!
There’s magical about these images: maybe it’s the combination of little kids knowing how to use the touchscreens as if it’s nothing? That emotion is amplified by the oddly alike radial gradient lighting in each image appearing as halos. The silly, trite numbers background graphics work against the quiet intrigue here, rendering a palpable juxtaposition.
Although I haven’t spent time truly generating a watertight and robust dip into this apparent coincidence of stock imagery, i feel like there’s something here. These images are haunting & evocative — capturing a generation of never not knowing-technology.
awkward ones for laughs:
and one that’s rather Minority Report:
It’s as if these kids are seeing the world through technology, but it’s invisible to them— an invisible screen. Gazing into the intra-interfaces of babes (& beyond).
