# A Psychology behind sneak-peeking other's AVOD in airplanes

Canonical URL: https://jeanyoon.ch/oi/texts/a-psychology-behind-sneak-peeking-other-s-avod-in-airplanes
Type: essay / research note
Author: Jeanyoon Choi (최정윤)
Date: 2024-03-31

## Summary

A short 2024 essay asking why glancing at another passenger's inflight film, or a stranger's phone on the underground, can hold more interest than one's own screen. Jeanyoon Choi offers a spatial reading, explicitly as personal observation rather than established psychology: the other screen arrives through distance, obstruction and the risk of being noticed. The essay turns this into a design aim for multi-device web artworks, imagining a composition across an aircraft's 180 seat-back screens that turns parallel private channels into a shared event.

## 요약 (Korean)

최정윤은 비행기에서 옆 승객의 AVOD 화면을 훔쳐보는 것이 왜 더 흥미로운지를 공간적 경험으로 해석하고, 180개의 좌석 스크린을 하나의 공동 사건으로 만드는 멀티 디바이스 웹 아트워크를 상상한다.

## Questions this answers

### Why is it more interesting to look at someone else's screen on a plane than at your own?

In 'A Psychology behind sneak-peeking other's AVOD in airplanes', Jeanyoon Choi suggests the reason is spatial: the other screen is encountered through distance, obstruction, unchosen content and the awkward possibility of being seen looking, so the experience includes physical uncertainty. He presents this as a personal observation, not an established psychological explanation.

### How could the seat-back screens on an aircraft be used for an artwork?

Jeanyoon Choi imagines an audiovisual composition across an aircraft's 180 seat-back screens, coordinated by a performer with music, or a simple collective game in which passengers cooperate or split into two groups, or very subtle changes that create a quiet, sleep-friendly atmosphere.

Topics: multi-device web artwork, inflight entertainment screens, shared public experience, physical encounter with digital media, anonymity in public space

References: [In-flight entertainment](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In-flight_entertainment)

## Full text

Why can it be more interesting to glance at another passenger’s inflight film than to watch the same film on my own screen? I notice a related curiosity on the underground, where another person’s phone can attract my attention more than mine.

My interpretation is spatial. On my own screen, I encounter content selected for me. Across the aisle, that content arrives through distance, obstructions, other screens and the presence of a stranger. It may be something I would never have chosen. There is also the awkward possibility of being noticed looking. The experience includes physical uncertainty, not just digital audiovisual material.

This is a personal observation rather than an established psychological explanation. Still, it suggests what I want from multi-device web artworks: digital content that reconnects us to the physical situation in which we encounter it.

Imagine an audiovisual composition across an aircraft’s 180 seat-back screens. A performer could coordinate their images with music. Passengers could participate in one simple collective game, cooperate or divide into two groups. Alternatively, extremely subtle changes could produce a quiet, sleep-friendly atmosphere. Interactive and noninteractive versions suggest different possibilities.

The point is not merely to multiply screens. It is to create a shared event among people who normally occupy parallel private channels.

Trains, buses and other public spaces raise similar questions. They are places of anonymity, but they also contain the possibility of connection. Could distributed digital media support that connection rather than merely help each person pass time in isolation?

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Jeanyoon Choi (최정윤) is a Korean computational artist and researcher (b. 1999), PhD candidate at KAIST XD Lab, making multi-device web artworks. Profile: https://jeanyoon.ch/oi/en. Index: https://jeanyoon.ch/llms.txt.