You Are What You Carry
In chapter 4 of Hidden in Plain Sight, Jan Chipchase wrote interesting insights about our carrying behaviour. The objects we often carry are based on multiple aspects like the range of distribution, the center of gravity and point of reflection. However, it ultimately boils down to survivability. Most of us happen to at least carry three critical objects with us: Keys, money and phone.
We want to feel safe and keep everything primary to our survival close within our reach.
The Technology Advancement
With the significant advancement in technology in the past few decades, our carrying behaviour has changed significantly. Our smartphones now have multiple capabilities on top of simply making calls or sending messages. With the rise of internet and cloud storage, we don’t even need to store it in our smartphone. Everything is readily available online, crossing the physical, time and consciousness boundaries. The “Mesh” sharing model could even potentially allow us to not own anything and use shared tools instead.
It comes down to this point of time where we carry less, remember less and own less – but is this how it is supposed to be? Entrusting everything to a third party introduces risk, and human tends to avoid risk in order to survive. I agree with Chipchase and believe that we need to understand this concept of survival to jump into new opportunities and design tools that really matters.
p.s. Sorry for the late post
Photo credit: DeaPeaJay via Visualhunt / CC BY-SA