Screen time

(Sound of peaceful background sounds, then a mobile phone alarm beeps and is turned off) 

Narrator: 

Most days, you’re woken by the alarm on your mobile phone.  

(Sound of person getting out of bed, showering)

Narrator: 

What should you wear today? You don’t need to open the window. In fact, you don’t even need to open the curtains. Just check the weather app on your phone.  

(Sound of front door closing, lock turning, hurrying, train/bus/tram)

Narrator: 

Do you take the bus, tram or train to work? The ticket on your mobile looks like it does for a reason.  

If a friend or colleague pays for your coffee, or for your admission to this museum, you can easily reimburse them using a money transfer app such as Vipps here in Norway. 
 
(Sound of Vipps payment)
 
Martin Egge Lundell: 
The screens we surround ourselves with are stuffed with content, and all of this content has been designed.  

Narrator:  

Martin Egge Lundell is Professor of Graphic Design at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts. 

Martin Egge Lundell: 
In this room, one of the examples we focus on is the weather. Every morning, when we pick up our phones to check the weather forecast, we’re presented with data that’s actually very complex, but the graphics make it easy to understand. And these graphics have a history, they’ve been developed step by step ever since the 1960s, when the first weather forecasts appeared on Norwegian television. 

Our lives are affected by all these screens and the content on them. And of course, a lot of things have got easier. It’s easier to buy a tram ticket, it’s easier to find a restaurant in an unfamiliar city. But the screens also suck in our attention with ridiculous force, and I’m sure all of us are well aware how incredibly difficult it is to tear ourselves away from our phones.  

This is a big feature of the times we live in. We see it all around us – all of us notice it. 

And when we spend such an enormous amount of time looking at screens, from when we get up in the morning until when we go to bed at night, then I think it’s worth thinking about how they look and why they look like they do. 

Narrator:  

Yes. This is something to think about next time your favourite app suddenly looks different, or when you’re gaming, watching television, or checking your mobile last thing at night. 

(Sound of putting down the mobile, turning off the light, snuggling under the duvet)