Friday, July 17, 2009

Society in Motion

Can I just say that I hate motion sensor activated devices and their over-prevalence? There is a place for motion sensors, I'll be the first to admit. Security lights, for example. But motion sensor toilets?! When did flushing become too much work? Back from our less than 24 hour trip, I am happy to be outside the grip of motion activated faucets, toilets, soap dispensers, towel dispensers, doors and lights. Argh!

When I go to the bathroom, I don't want to have to do a freaking dance just to avoid being stuck in the dark. Or spend a half an hour trying to find the spot that makes the faucet turn on, only for it to run five times longer than I actually need water. Or to end up with ten feet of towel because Ken decides that he wants to stand under the towel thing. How is this at all good for conservation?

And then there's the not motion activated, but still astoundingly lazy things that eat up resources and energy unnecessarily. Escalators that go constantly. Elevators used by everyone and their brother to go to the second floor. Revolving doors that never stop. Conveyor belts that just steal my groceries before I can get them all on the counter.

Why? Why does everything have to move constantly? Can't we just move things (with our own power) when they need moved? How many kilowatt hours could we save by not having everything running away from us like this? More importantly, how many pounds of CO2 could this spare, if we just got off our butts and did things for ourselves, or didn't have machines running 24/7? Not to mention the step away from the obesity epidemic this would make. Not huge in and of itself, but breaking the paradigm of laziness above all else would be a step forward.

5 comments:

  1. You bring up some *very* solid points.

    I can't tell you how many times i've been using one of the automatic-flushing toilets when the damn thing flushes before I've even had a chance to throw the toilet paper in the pot!

    I always laugh at healthy, agile people who take the elevator 1 floor up/down. And we wonder why obesity is such a problem in America. =)

    Have a great weekend!

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  2. hmmmm....I've never really thought about this. Much of it sure does seem unnecessary. But I do like not having to touch much when I'm in a public bathroom.

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  3. Yeah, the bathroom motion sensors are ridiculous. I think they're in the sinks so #1 the water isn't left running all day and #2, because touching a sink knob is "unsanitary."

    Its never occurred to me though that we could very simply have motion sensor escalators. People might have a difficult time with it, I'd imagine. Its worth a look, though

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  4. Hmm, motion sensor escalators? I could get on board with that. Though I'd prefer people just freaking walk up the stairs. I won't even get started on the whole "unsanitary" phobia our society has. Dirt don't hurt. Although, sadly, the sensors to turn shit off because people are too dumb/lazy/"hygienic" to turn things off is one reason for the damned things. If only people had the brains to turn stuff off and we didn't need the sensor things. (rant off)

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  5. Lol!! I hate those motion sensor toilets!!!

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