Touch Diary app for iPhone and iPad

The Touch Diaries Project is a research project. led by Lisa May Thomas that looks deeply into the themes of touch and human connection in the growth of the digital age; the effects of the fragmentation and the atomisation of society; isolation and loneliness through lack of vital human contact; how our seemingly individual, intimate experiences of touch are shifting in terms of the broader sociocultural, political, economic and technological contexts of our everyday lives. We are now super-connected yet real-life communities are increasingly fractured as socialising/socialisation takes place online. Young people grow up with no experience of life without the internet and online communities. In contrast, older people have experienced most of their life offline. Interest should be taken towards their understanding of community lest we forget what life was like before the digital age. Research is carried out through Workshops and The Touch Diaries. Current research will go towards the development of a film and live performance which will express and address ideas, questions and issues and work with real-life stories and memories that come up through the research.

The Touch Diary allows you to track and record moments of physical contact through each day over a maximum of a 7-day period via a series of drop-down questions, sliding scales and free spaces in which to record your thoughts and experiences.