“B611” is a website that aims to foster healthy identity development through reflective, authentic, and respectful online social interaction. It targets young adults (18-26) who are in the active identity development stages and vulnerable to judgements from social media.
The final outcome is a dynamic website that allows users to record and reflect their life moments and interact with each other anonymously in real-time. The project is exhibited on the 2024 Fellow Research Show at NYU Shanghai.
Demo
2024 Fellow Research Exhibition







Inspiration & Background
The project is inspired by The Little Prince by Antoine, the famous fairy tale about the mental growth of a little prince. The prince cherished and took care of a rose, which he thought was the most beautiful creature in this universe. However, when he traveled to the Earth, he bumped into a garden full of roses as beautiful as his rose on B612. He was so frustrated because his rose was not unique anymore. Then he met a fox, who tells him that:
“It's the time you spent on your rose that makes your rose so important...You become responsible forever for what you've tamed. You're responsible for your rose.”
Nowadays, We Spend So Much Time
Finding And Taming Our One-And-Only Rose.
4.8
In 2023 July, GWI launched a global survey for people aged between 16-64 regarding social media usage.
The results show that Acquaintance Socializing apps like WhatsApp, Facebook, and WeChat and blog/video social apps like Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, and Xiaohongshu are among the favorite social media platforms.
A third of teens use platforms like TikTok and Instagram “almost constantly,” which can lead to unhealthy behaviors like curating fake identities to gain likes and followers.
Yet, Are We Spending Enough Time To Tame Ourselves?
Secondary
Research

The data and images are from GWI

Social media encourage the careful curation of idealized, desired self-images. (Zhao, et al., 2008).

Researchers found that social networking site (SNS) use were significantly linked to anxiety and depression (Mukhopadhyay, et al,. 2018).

Socially anxious individuals tend to actively shape their (virtual) image to reduce the risk of negative judgments on social media.(Richard et al.,2021).
Interview Niche Social Media Users
“To be honest, I’m not into expressing or empathizing, but I’m obsessed with collecting all the stickers so I pour out my heart and soul to the letters. I feel that I’m getting better at organizing and expressing my thoughts.”

“It’s a pity that Tell is stopping their service. I was so inspired by the letters from the strangers. But the letters came very slowly. Maybe it’s hard and tiring to empathize and few would volunteer...”


“I feel more comfortable to express my emotions on Tree Hole as I’m anonymized. But I’m bothered by the pairing system that always recommends me the opposite sex that seeks mating and make dirty offensive requests.”
“I feel more relaxed posting on Tietie than WeChat moments, because I can only have 8 contacts on Tietie, who’re all my best friends. I don’t need to worry about posting anything negative or inappropriate in front of complicated social connections like my professors / intern mentor.”

Research Insight

Meeting new people on social media offers diverse identity inputs, which aids identity development.

The fear of judgment from others can lead to excessive self-image manipulation online, resulting in social anxiety and impeding identity development.

Small-scale social sharing encourages real-self exposure.

Being anonymous makes people feel safe to display their real self.

Pairing systems in anonymized social platform aim at matchmaking, which can make conversation sex-oriented and dirty.

A game reward system can motivate users in a self-reflection process that demands mental effort.
Interaction Design
What if, instead of the arrogant rose,
the Little Prince spends time taming his “self”?



Storyboard


On B611, a star neighboring B612, a little prince wakes up.
He looks around, wondering:
who am I? Where am I?
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Suddenly, he realizes that there's another creature nearby. It looks like a dandelion.
He approaches it: "Hello?"
Dandelion: "Hello, little prince. I'm Dande, the inner 'you'. Glad you finally see me."
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The little prince is confused: "What do you mean by 'I am the inner you'?"
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"I am your real self, the self without any disguise. My core used to store all the character traits you possessed, which made you as you. My seeds composed your ideal self, which stores all the character traits that you desired but did not possess." Dande says, "You cultivated me, and I grew with you. You were the master of me, and we were both glowing with beautiful colors." "However, it's been a long time since you paid attention to me. All the traits were lost and the color faded."
"Now that you're finally back. Can you talk to me, just like you did before, to restore our color?"
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"If you have too many desired characteristic traits, I will be burdened. The seeds will fly away and you have to rethink the ideal self"
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"At some point, you will meet another little prince on B611. You can become his friend, so you can look at his Dande and learn about his authentic self. Or you can choose to be a stranger, and his Dande will shy away from your touch."
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Intro Story as User Guide
Scene Screenshots
