"No civil discourse, no cooperation; misinformation, mistruth." These were the words of former Facebook Vice President Chamath Palihapitiya who publicly expressed his regret in a 2017 interview over his role in co-creating Facebook. Palihapitiya shared that social media is ripping apart the social fabric of society and he also sounded the alarm regarding social media’s unavoidable global impact. He is only one of social media’s countless critics. The more disturbing issue resides in the empirical evidence supporting such notions. At least 95% of adolescents own a smartphone and spend an average time of two to four hours a day on social media. Moreover, 91% of 16-24-year-olds use social media, yet youth rate Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter as the worst social media platforms. However, the social, clinical, and neurodevelopment ramifications of using social media regularly are only beginning to emerge in research. Early research findings show that social media platforms trigger anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, and other negative mental health effects. These negative mental health symptoms are commonly reported by individuals from of 18-25-years old, a unique period of human development known as emerging adulthood. Although emerging adulthood is characterized by identity exploration, unbounded optimism, and freedom from most responsibilities, it also serves as a high-risk period for the onset of most psychological disorders. Despite social media’s adverse impacts, it retains its utility as it facilitates identity exploration and virtual socialization for emerging adults. Investigating the “user-centered” design and neuroscience underlying social media platforms can help reveal, and potentially mitigate, the onset of negative mental health consequences among emerging adults. Effectively deconstructing the Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram (i.e., hereafter referred to as “The Big Three”) will require an extensive analysis into common features across platforms. A few examples of these design features include: like and reaction counters, perpetual news feeds, and omnipresent banners and notifications surrounding the user’s viewport. Such social media features are inherently designed to stimulate specific neurotransmitters and hormones such as dopamine, serotonin, and cortisol. Identifying such predacious social media features that unknowingly manipulate and highjack emerging adults’ brain chemistry will serve as a first step in mitigating the negative mental health effects of today’s social media platforms. A second concrete step will involve altering or eliminating said features by creating a social media platform that supports and even enhances mental well-being.

Place and memory are strongly intertwined based on the human experience. So what can a new place become in the mind of an individual who has garnered distressing perceptions of one’s current environment due to trauma? How can the environment support or facilitate periods of transition caused by a traumatic event? The aftermath of abuse that occurs in romantic relationships of late adolescence leads to a rocky crisis stage that often results in isolation, loss of identity, and social stigma. It is a period of transition in which recovery can be a long journey. This is where concepts of acceptance, mental alleviation, and appreciation of the present moment evoked by a nonjudgmental architecture can come into play. A space with the purpose of evoking a mental and emotional respite is of great need, especially when considering the current severity of today’s fast paced society. An architecture of this nature holds relevance and importance on campuses of higher education when considering the specific demographic. In order to reverse the perception of one’s surroundings as tarnished spaces and override the sensations to which distrust and exhaustion have claimed ownership, this center of healing should be integrated into an individual’s life as a facilitator of comfort. In short, it should provide the ability and opportunity to take a breath.

The Intermission is a healing space located at Arizona State University in Tempe, specifically where Forest Mall and Orange Mall meet. Abuse in intimate relationships is the most prevalent amongst college-aged individuals and those of late adolescence. This architecture exists specifically for the survivors of this particular traumatic experience, but welcomes all of the student body. It takes into consideration the general sensory overload placed on today’s youth who are existing in a specifically stressful and challenging developmental phase of life. The intention lies in eliciting a reprieve through the use of nature as an enclosure and an undulating platform as a labyrinth, which ultimately offers up a positive form of both a sensory and traversing experience. It offers the discovery of stimuli that users are able to easily adapt to and appreciate. It allows for and calls one to take part in deceleration. The goal is to bring the users to the awareness of themselves, their surroundings, and that of the present moment through spatial means. With this, the environment is able to support and facilitate a period of transition through the re-building of identity and memory. Ultimately, The Intermission is architecture as pause from a harsh and sometimes unforgiving life. It is an in-between moment for the in-between individual— an alternate, but necessary route (as well as pit stop) in the loop of daily life.