"Uncomfortability is the new convenience"

[eyesonthehorizon]

Awkwardness of the title aside, the idea is intriguing: products tailor-made to annoy you into greater consciousness and aware decisionmaking. (I use one already, myself: an alarm with a snooze button.)

While predictably the article takes a very consumerist spin on getting people to move, trying to sell a whole slew of new products to replace whatever you already have, I'd argue a lot of these systems could be done DIY for people trying to input a little effort once to continually nudge themselves in the ongoing future. Thoughts?

www.fastcoexist.com/3040839/world-changing-ideas/dont-relax-uncomfortability-is-the-new-convenience

[pdxbator]

True silliness if you ask me.

[mlejw6]

There are some interesting products in the article. I like the stool that wobbles slightly to make you use your muscles to stay on.

But, it starts with a really dumb example with the elevator (oops, I mean intervator). The way to get people to take the stairs is not to go one floor lower than they want and then tell them to walk up a flight. Then, everyone would just learn to choose the floor above where they want to go. The best way to get people to use stairs is to design buildings so that people see the stairs before the elevators. Right now, you walk in a building and see a bank of elevators, but you have to search for the stairwell, which is often hidden. If you have stairs in plain sight, then move the elevators to a less visible location, more people would use stairs.

[slugline]

In the intervator example, I trust that you can decline the stairs option by pressing your desired floor again. Otherwise, your wheelchair users are going to be really pissed off. . . .

[TrMama]

I think most of the examples in the article are silly. The only one I liked was the car that played the sound of children playing when it was driven near a school. Although, if we're going down that path, some kind of intermittent governor device that forces the car to slow down would be more effective. The driver in front of me this morning could've used that instead of honking at the kids who didn't cross the street fast enough in front of him, in a school zone.

My gut feeling is that the people who most need the intervention will be the ones who work hardest to get around the intervention, rendering it useless.