Long but as ever useful briefing from Trendwatching.com, this month about ‘NOWISM’: how consumers are increasingly moving away from physical objects that deliver ever more marginal increases in status and towards instant gratification from experiences.
This picture amused me…it’s a genuine workstation that’s been designed to allow workers to walk at 2mp/h while working…burning 100 calories an hour in doing so. Crazy.
I think the trend is undeniable but I’m not very happy with it personally! I think we’re in danger of breeding a generation with extremely low thresholds for downtime, and I reckon downtime’s damn important. I also think that a desire for instant gratification is expensive and a society based on it is likely to have greater levels of crime. Worrying.
There’s another, more useful purpose for such a workstation. Exercise helps you think. John Medina, the neurologist who wrote Brain Rules, goes so far as to say “the best business meeting would have everyone walking at about 1.8 miles per hour”
More here: http://www.brainrules.net/exercise
I know what you mean about downtime though – sometimes I think we’re not so good at it in this generation, frankly…
It’s a nice idea. I’d love it if all my meetings also involved a nice stroll in the park.