Innovative Design-
In our previous technological designing assignments, I have chosen to re-design apps. However, I decided this time to try and design a new product. This new product would be solely designed around attention. As we know, attention for some age ranges is easier than for others. For example, toddlers have a harder time paying attention to things like learning because they are young, and have a hard time controlling their focus. However, this product would focus on an older generation- people in their early 80’s. For senior citizens, attention that once came easily to them is now difficult. Although strenuous, attention to important details cant be controlled for some elderly. Things like remembering time, hearing, and seeing all are uncontrollable aspects of aging. This product would focus mainly on hearing and seeing.
One important thing to note about the loss of hearing or sight is that it can be dangerous. It is burdensome and in some cases even life-threatening to be unaware of one’s surroundings. For a situation like this, technology could reinforce safety measures. In this design, the product wouldn’t provide the benefit of sound for the seniors (because this has already been created), however, it would provide another sensory clue to help them achieve maximum safety. The product would be wearable and connected to the elder, possibly even linked through a hearing aid system. In a perfect world, the product would vibrate in order to inform them when there is ANY form of danger- however for now this product’s center focus is alert to fire alarms. With the loss of hearing (even with hearing aids), a fire alarm can be hard to hear or sometimes not as alarming as they need to be, and with the loss of sight, a blinking light wouldn’t be noticeable. Therefore, whenever a fire alarm goes off nearby a fast vibration will be felt behind the user’s ear. This vibration would encourage urgency in an emergency setting and fix the concerns around safety when it comes to a serious situation like a fire.
Attention–
The design criteria I chose was focused on attention. A large majority of technology these days is harmful and causes the wrong attention to be paid. Most apps and technology encourage the user to focus on the app or technology itself rather than the “benefit” it provides. This product, however, does focus on the user and the benefit (or safety) it gives. Instead of causing the user to stray away from the realistic world, I designed this product so that the user paid even more attention to what was going on around them. This creates mindfulness rather than confusion. I also chose the criteria attention because our society has allowed larger technology companies to focus on teens and children because they are easily distracted. If there were more applications and products created to focus on other ages, I think the technology world would become more humane.
This concept is important to me because I live and work in an office that runs (not only student living) but all demographics. When training for my office job, I was taught that we must provide accommodations for those with disabilities. An example for accommodation was a louder fire alarm for someone who has a hard time hearing, and although this does make sense, a vibrating “alarm” system seemed to make even more sense to me. By paying attention to a different demographic (other than teens) and focusing on a need in our community with accommodations for those with disabilities, designing a product that may be able to help, becomes crucial and important to society.
Community/World-
When it comes to support, I believe that our world nowadays would support this design. Although this may not be the most successful piece of technology due to the fact that again most of our most popular applications are focused on changing the way 13-18-year-olds live and think, I do think that this product could be powerful. (15.7 % of the population is made of 80 years old or older)
As far as community, an environment where there are more aged citizens would allow for this product to absolutely excel. Maybe even in buildings that run fire drills- like apartment complexes or residential buildings, even a community that included middle-aged adults who take care of their parents (or others) in a house.
Weight Cost-
When it comes to producing a beneficial product, more materials may be needed. Materials used would include similar ones needed to build a product similar to a hearing aid in shape, but different in function. The technology would have to be smart enough to sense when a fire alarm nearby is going off so it would need some sort of detection. The labor associated with this by-product would come from a form of testing and re-designing in order for the benefit to provide as much safety and alertness as possible. Having some form of technology like this on the market- may take away from some hearing aid companies by providing an alternative to these important safety concerns. It wouldn’t cause harm to the targeted demographic- it would only provide relief. One potential downfall is the fact that it would most likely be battery-powered. Most hearing aid batteries end up in landfills and don’t even decompose. I would prefer it if it didn’t have to be battery-powered, however, by making a rechargeable battery, elders may not be able to use this product efficiently.
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