With the introduction of the pc age came the emergence of a whole brand new range of industrial design possibilities. The technological age, it seems, knows no bounds. But with all this, comes a cost . And that expense is Industrial Design Disease. It manifests itself in the type of technology addiction which comes with recognisable indicators. Sweaty palms, elevated blood pressure and hyperactivity are all known signals that a cellular phone is out of reach. And if, god forbids, the users should have his mobile in his sweaty little mitts yet have no signal, well the world might just too end now. Industrial design has proved effective in the workplace in that info is now exchanged across the planet instantaneously yet this also shows that there is no longer a line between workplace and office. Back in the good old days, you would leave the office and hear no more about it until 9am the next day. Nevertheless, get home these days and the phone will be ringing with a call or vibrating with a text and if they are not, hey, don’t stress, fire up your laptop and check your emails. There is even an universally known etiquette emerging surrounding the usage of the new industrial design goods. It is very alright to respond to an e mail within two days yet a text message demands an instant reply. God knows, I’ve been in trouble myself for not responding to a text for one hour or more. That can be because I’ve a life! Have you ever been in a restaurant trying to enjoy a night out when the man on the next table is continually shouting into his mobile, after the tenth time of it ringing loudly? Have you ever felt the urge to go over and ram that phone down his throat, or is that just me? For those who have ever felt like that, please remember the fact that they have Industrial Design Disease and we ought to look after the afflicted, not cause harm to them. Maybe we could arrange a special area in the restaurant for them just as we do for other disabilities. Be a fly on the wall at any social getting and once a vibration has been detected, there will be a frenzied flurry of phone checking with the standard line of ‘Is that me?’, ‘No, it is you’.
Why do all people assume that any message is an urgent one? How do they think we managed without them? And the initial anxiety which is induced by checking to see if ‘it’s you’, must absolutely contribute towards stress related illnesses. Full on parties are even disintegrating into unsociable events where everyone sits and texts the only people that aren’t at the party. Why? Since they’ve Industrial Design Disease and they can not help it – it is in their genes. Even young children are becoming hooked on this form of technology and I blame the mom and dad. I believe it is my daughter’s fault that she allowed me to give her 6 month old son a pretend cellphone . When he’s half a dozen yrs old it’ll probably be the norm for all his peers to have their own latest industrial design in their backpack. I told my children they could have cell phones when they reached thirteen which was fine for the first child as this was when they were becoming popular. Once my youngest reached 9 he was demanding one of his own! What do kid’s this age need with mobiles? It is a superb way for parents to keep in touch with their children yet it has led to a totally new trouble. The one of bullying. Bullying itself isn’t a totally new problem but with everybody possessing a cell phone such days, bullying has taken on a detached voice. Children bully each other through text message, phone calls and another industrial design of internet communication through social networking sites. For those who need to buck the system, an industrial designer has come up with a treatment. The Tame is a cube which will fix all your addiction troubles. It could be programmed with set responses and will reply to all of your interaction devices. It will handle your mobile phone, IM, text and Facebook responses too as numerous others. This is designed for safety in times like driving when we cannot safely respond to those wanting to make contact with us. Yet certainly this is a sign of the times that when taking a short vacation , we can not wait until we reach our destination to reply. Is this because we have ‘Industrial Design Disease’ or since they do and we don’t want to make it any worse?
Georgette Adanas has been writing content articles on product designers since 2004.
