With the introduction of the computer age came the emergence of a whole new range of industrial design possibilities. The technological age, it seems, knows no bounds. But with all this, comes a price range. And that rate is Industrial Design Disease. It manifests itself in the kind of technology addiction that comes with recognisable indicators. Sweaty palms, raised blood pressure and hyperactivity are all known signals that a cellphone is out of reach. And if, god forbids, the users need to have his mobile in his sweaty little mitts yet have no signal, well the world might just as well end now. Industrial design has proved effective in the workplace in that information is now exchanged across the globe 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 such days and the phone will be ringing with a call or vibrating with a text and if they’re not, hey, do not stress, fire up your laptop and check your emails. There’s even an universally known etiquette emerging surrounding the usage of the new industrial design items. It is quite alright to respond to an e mail within two days but 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 could be because I have 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 individuals that have ever felt like that, please take into account that they’ve Industrial Design Disease and we should look after the afflicted, not damage them. Probably 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 typical line of ‘Is that me?’, ‘No, it’s 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 determine if ‘it’s you’, must definitely contribute towards stress related sicknesses. Full on parties are even disintegrating into unsociable events where everybody sits and texts the only individuals 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 kind of technology and I blame the mother and father. I believe it’s my daughter’s fault that she allowed me to give her 6 month old son a pretend cell phone . 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 quite popular. Once my youngest reached 9 he was demanding one of his own! What do kid’s this age require with mobiles? It is a very good way for father and mother to communicate with their children yet it has led to a completely new issue. The one of bullying. Bullying itself isn’t a completely new complication but with everybody possessing a mobile phone all of these days, bullying has taken on a detached voice. Children bully each other through text message, phone calls and another industrial design of internet communication using social networking sites. For those who want to buck the system, an industrial designer has come up with a treatment. The Tame is a cube which will fix all of your addiction difficulties. It can be programmed with set responses and will reply to all of your interaction gadgets. It will handle your mobile phone, IM, text and Facebook responses as well as numerous others. This is generated for safety in times similar to driving when we cannot safely respond to those wanting to get in touch with us. Yet surely this is a sign of the times that when taking a short journey, we can not wait until we reach our destination to reply. Is this as we have ‘Industrial Design Disease’ or simply because they do and we don’t wish to make it any worse?
Georgette Adanas has been writing articles on product design service since 2009.