Touchy, A Human Camera, Urges Us To Get Back In Touch With Each Other (VIDEO)

According to Eric Siu, we humans have lost our touch.

Touchy, a "phenomenological social interaction experiment" developed by the Hong Kong-based new media artist is a human camera who can only see when touched by another and who will snap a few photos of the other person if touch is maintained for 10 seconds.

As Siu explains on the project's site, Touchy is meant to "criticize" the phenomenon that arises from social networking sites like Facebook or Twitter, which allow us to stay connected online while remaining physically detached in real life.

Siu also chatted about the project with Fast Company's Co.Design. “Touchy wants to generate critical thought on physical social connection when we are living in the era in which social networking is overly virtualized," said Siu.
"The project does not aim at making photography more social, but human. That is to say, employing the social capability of a camera to a human being.”

As shown in the video above, Touchy gets a lot happier when he encounters another person willing to lend him a hand (literally), and perhaps, in the future, others might be able to experience the importance of touch as this lonely human camera does. Siu's site features a gallery of other "Touchys" as well as specs of the helmet device itself, including a head size limit.

Watch the video above to check out Touchy in action, and then let us know: What do you think about Siu's social interaction experiment? Share your thoughts with us in the comments!