World Mental Health Day: Background Blindspot

Performics Mercerbell (PFXMB) has launched ‘Background Blindspot’, a digital awareness campaign and website that aims to give corporate Australians the tools to recognise online signs of mental health issues and promote digital wellbeing. Launching this World Mental Health Day, the project is premised on the knowledge that during lockdown, screen-time has skyrocketed for many remote-working professionals, including the potential for heightened stress and video call fatigue. The awareness campaign includes TV spots, influencer marketing, social media, and PR. In consultation with psychologist and social commentator Sabina Read, PFXMB conducted a video call social experiment with eight agency staff and one client – to demonstrate how a person’s internal state can manifest in their external environment or appearance. As part of the experiment, participants intentionally altered the background of their rooms over five days, using cues like scattered laundry, dirty dishes, or feigned distractedness – monitoring to see whether their peers would flag or comment on the changes. Rather than encouraging people to draw conclusions based on the backgrounds of their screens – the experiment aims to reinforce the importance of also paying attention to uncharacteristic changes in demeanour and online behaviour over time, which could indicate that someone is struggling.