Thursday, October 2, 2014

Scenario 1 - Mathilda Andersson

Mathilda wakes up on a Sunday morning. It is still early and she usually sleeps in on weekends but last night she forgot to put her iPhone in silent mode and her alert sound would wake up the heaviest of sleepers. Her friend just sent her a message asking her if she wants to meet up later. She replies that she would like to, but is going with her family to Fotografiska. Still barely awake, she walks downstairs and finds that no one else is awake.

She sits on the couch and turns the television on but her focus is elsewhere. An hour passes and Mathilda has progresses 3 whole levels in Candy Crush Saga. The rest of the family is now awake and the usually calm and relaxed weekend breakfast has been replaced by a rushed excuse for a meal. Museum visits are done for recreation but when getting to the museum is a project in and of itself it is hard to relax.

When finally arriving at the museum at an hour before noon the stressed feeling Mathilda has absorbed from her parents still persists. After paying the entrance fee they finally arrive at the moment she was looking forward to. They enter the exhibition on the first floor but they leave quickly when her parents realize that it is not kid-friendly.  After walking up a flight of stairs they arrive at the exhibition Mathilda's parents told her about - the one with the animal pictures.

Mathilda is overwhelmed by the sheer number of pictures and the lack of any apparent structure. They begin taking the clockwise route, as it appears most other groups do. The first picture catches her attention. It depicts an elephant on the savannah. It is often said that a picture is worth a thousand words but Mathilda is done with the elephant in a few seconds. Her parents tell her to read the text but Mathilda is not interested in the elephant's Latin name or the exact location the photo was taken. The next photos are of mountains, trees and lakes but Mathilda wants to look at "fun" pictures.

She takes her iPhone from her pocket and opens up her Facebook app. Her parents tell her that she needs to pay attention and takes the phone from her. The process repeats itself and Mathilda only enjoys about one tenth of the pictures. Once they reach the end of the room she feels ready to continue but then realizes that there is an equal amount of pictures on the other side. She is now frustrated and her parents feel that she doesn't pay attention.

An hour later they are finally done with the exhibition. The parents are visibly frustrated about Mathildas lack of attention and suggest they head up to the cafe. After a half hour at the cafe they ask Mathilda if she wants to go home or if she wants to look at more pictures. They both agree on the first option. Mathilda was excited about the visit earlier but it didn't live up to her expectations. Her parents are upset that she didn't find the pictures interesting enough and at her limited attention span. What could have been a fun weekend excursion turned out to be a disappointment for all of them.

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