Sometimes the digital world creates more work than it automates. Surely that wasn’t the plan was it?
Rather unfairly, technology doesn’t create more work for the architects of the new systems – oh no, they’re sailing ahead of us, blissfully unaware of the turbulence being caused in their wake.
It’s us humble users that get caught in the backdraft. Every time some goatee bearded hipster opens the door of opportunity for us, a blizzard of new options comes storming in, scattering all previous contacts across the virtual desktop. After that, you can never find your favourite tools or people again, because they’ve been taken out and stuck in an illogical place. Or, more ominously, they’ve been discontinued.
Call me old fashioned, but I still like doing things by email. But every kind of electronic messaging has become a massive tedious chore now. There’s been a gradual revolution, and the communications server is the master now. We humans are now slaves to these beasts and our days are spent hunched over a screen dealing with spams, CC mails and stupid questions.
A friend of mine who has ‘Interneted’ a lot things for a big client gets 16,000 emails a day, mostly from servers and comms devices, that email him to say they’re up and running. He doesn’t talk any more on train journeys, in airport lounges or even the pub. He’s too busy taking messages from some electronic ‘time saving’ device. (Time saving device indeed! If these devices really were smart, they’d appreciate the irony in their job title).
Until the email alert process can be modified, so the silly switches, CCTV cameras and servers are smart enough to only email when there’s a problem, I’m afraid my friend Subhas Patel is sentenced to this tedium. Indefinitely, without any leave of appeal.
Surely, this is a chore that is crying out for gamification?
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the screen on which we see these incoming emails could be redrawn, so that each message could be represented as a Space Invader?
In the body of each invader, we would be able to see the header and sender of the email. Based on this information, we could decide whether to destroy the email or let it pass onto the next round of the game. If however, we decided to shoot the time thief before it invaded any more of our space, we’d have the satisfaction of seeing it explode on screen, with all its hideous contents (tedious phrases like “So, I just thought I’d reach out”) would spill out and burn up as they entered our atmosphere.
I’ve got no idea how to programme this game, so feel free to pinch the idea anyone who does know.
You clever coders could turn all the most tedious jobs into games. There are groups like Play in The Cloud, Play Mob and Chore Wars, all dedicated to converting duty into joy.
I’ve always wanted to make recycling less of a chore and more of a stress buster. We’re all missing a trick with those bottle banks for a start. There can be few more therapeutic activities than smashing a bottle – provided there’s no danger of being caught by a shard of glass. Flinging a bottle at your nemesis can be wonderfully cathartic. Many people would pay good money to fling a bottle at a stone effigy of, say, an unpopular politician or football manager. If there was a Sepp Blatter figurine in my local council tip, the bottle recycling queue would extend back across Europe.
Similarly, there are ways to make recycling centres for tin cans and plastic bottles into fun fairs. There’s not enough room to outline them here, but they involve using machine to machine (M2M) technology, which could turn a costly chore into a profitable revenue stream, while adding to the gaiety of nations. Any companies that wanted to donate prizes for these recycling competitions would come away with massive green kudos, not to mention mass approval from the general public.
If only I knew how to programme the code and find the sponsors to give away prizes. I wonder if any Telefonica readers will know.
