In/Bounds

In/Bounds presents a set of rituals that attempt to help users recontextualize their time on the internet. Specifically, I decided to look at the internet through the lens of consent and aftercare culture, a practice often applied to bookend spaces of limitless fantasy. I extended this metaphor by taking cues from rituals found in cultures that include these practices: a discussion of consent that precedes the encounter, and the aftercare that follows. In a sexual context, for example, participants safely discuss desired rules and draw their boundaries in order to ensure a positive experience.

How might we take these practices that bookend a physical experience derived from fantasy and apply them to the similarly fantastical experience of being online? A user can't fully consent to the totality of what they might encounter on the internet. However, it's important that they mentally prepare themselves to confront the unexpected, in addition to having an escape route. In/Bound repeatedly draws attention to the difference between the physical and digital realms, recognizing the limitless possibilities of the internet and the simultaneous existence of a finite human body that sits at a keyboard.

The following is a video depicting the final manifestation of the above concept: a Google Chrome extension that asks users to “Log On” before accessing the internet. The “Logging On” process features a set of rituals meant to establish reality and consent. Once the user has chosen to “Log Off” they are then ushered into a set of “after care” rituals that bring them back to reality.