As part of this weeks lecture, we were given the task to stop and notice.
Notice the sights, sounds, interactions and information presented in our given location, mine being Fed Square.
John Mason says “We notice all the time, but on several levels” and I completely agree.
On my daily commute to uni or work, I notice the sounds of the radio or the behaviours of people. But it was only when I was forced to stop and focus only on my surroundings, rather than where I was going, I began to really ‘notice’.
But the one common thread that weaved in and out of my ‘noticing’ was media.
I noticed interactions with media- texting, calling, advertising, the sound of media- ringtones, the faint sound of pre recorded audio content, the consumption of media- signs urging me to ‘like’ or ‘follow’
The city-scape was gleaming, the sun beams bouncing off the satellites scattered on top of the buildings. People everywhere, people with cameras- both in their actual form and disguised in the form of a smartphone. Cameras taking photos of the city scape, which is bordered with advertising media- promotions with faces of well known celebrities plastered on the screens and walls. Smart phones switching from the camera app to the messaging app, communicating with those in other locations, heads down, fingers rapidly moving. Only some of the individuals that occupied the space chose to interact face-to-face with those next to them or those who knew the way to a desired location.
Even my group and I were engulfed in our own interactions with media, using our phones to note our ‘noticing’ and we may or may not have played around with the Fed Square screen… (photo below)
I caught myself noticing on the way home, noticing the people around me, the noises and even the little details in the music I was listening to- the lyrics, the rhymes, the instruments.
I’m intrigued to stop and notice more often, in different locations and with different people. Maybe I’ll find some sort of satisfaction in soaking up my surroundings and the people, actions and sounds within it, and who knows, I might even replace my Facebook scrolling with noticing…
I don’t want to distract from your ‘noticing’, but here is one of the songs I was listening to on the way home from my ‘noticing’ adventures- I urge you to stop and notice how awesome it is!
Metronomy- The Look
