Sticky hands experiment
Hands play a crucial role in generating personal data, often without us even realizing it. Every time we scroll through our phones, type on a keyboard, or tap on a screen, we unknowingly contribute to a vast network of data collection. When doomscrolling in social media, algorithms are constantly tracking our preferences, behaviors, and even emotions.
If we assume that for every 5 seconds of phone usage, a person scrolls an average of 30 cm (estimated from the distance the screen scrolls per swipe), we can say that 6cm is scrolled every second. That means that if 108 minutes are spent scrolling, the average person scrolls 38,880 cm per day (6 cm x 6,480 = 38,880 cm). To convert this to metres or kilometres, simply divide the cm by 100 or 1,000, respectively.
Collins, 2022
These analogue experiments merged into two interactive scripts:
• Auto-ethnography on the hand
• Scrolling meter calculator