Chipchase Chapter 4: 

Whilst reading the beginning of the chapter, it got me thinking about how everyone has their own unique system of handing their belongings, as well as my own. Then I decided to do a little analysing with my own, depicted through some doodles from yours truly.

Range of distribution – The distance that people are willing to let physical objects stray when they are out and about. Criteria: perceived risk of danger, actual risk of danger, perceived and actual need and convenience.

Of course, the criteria for consideration is subjective to the individual – whether one is habitually paranoid or relaxed, they will perceive risk of danger or need and convenience differently.

I find the concepts of centers of gravity and point of reflection intriguing as I have never thought of it beyond just being extra mindful of one’s possessions. Also, to note that I did not intuitive pick up the habit of practicing point of reflection, and instead was taught by my mother to “look by at your seat when you leave”.

With regards to the story of police officers in Afghanistan, the highlighting of the people’s mind-set of “if you can’t see it, you don’t own it” telling of the suspicious attitudes, behaviours and the kind of life they live. This contrast with the average citywalker, for at the touch and a swipe, we can recover our account balance through a phone app, and will readily accept the numbers we see as indicative of how much we still own (so long its not far off from what we expect).

I’ll end with a quote from the chapter that concludes everything.

“…we could try to either reduce the risk of losing things, reduce the cost of recovering or replacing those things, and/or make it easier to live without carrying those things around. One of the simplest ways to accomplish all three is to allow people to use more while owning less.”