Slashdot Mirror
New Shoe Designed to Kick-Start Couch Potatoes
Terremoto writes "A student at west London's Brunel University has developed a shoe with a pedometer that controls the amount of time a TV will remain lit. If sufficient activity has not been achieved the TV remains uncooperative. The device is appropriately named, "Square-Eyes"."
First reaction, cute, but what a stupid idea. I won't even go into how this is a technological innovation to enforce parenting, but if you really
wanted to make sure someone was active instead of watching too much tv, why not hook an exercise bike up to a generator. You can watch tv as long
as you pedal. This would sour kids on TV pretty quick, or get some exercise out of them. Either way, not a bad idea.
Rhymes that keep their secrets will unfold behind the clouds.There upon the rainbow is the answer to a neverending story
If they could somehow program it for those of us who , (guilty) surf the web for hours on end, sitting in front of the computer... Until then, I will continue to wander the net...
but truly lazy people will always find a way to be lazy. they'll just pick up the shoes and shake them, or somesuch. to make it think they walked. as with previous idea's like this, its worthless if its even semi-easily trickable
Day one: Wow, look at this new thing i got, it'll motivate me to run. *run run run* *watch TV*
Day two:*run run* *watch TV*
Day three: Damn, my favorite show is on but i haven't run enough, i'll disconnect the running thing just this once...
THE END.
From the article:
"Today's children are exposed to a raft of television programmes and children's channels. Ten years ago, children were entertained by playing games with their friends, now they are cooped up in their bedrooms watching hours of television programmes," she said.
Ten years ago, 1995, kids were pursuing a sedentary lifestyle of watching TV and playing videogames with their friends.
Yeah - it's in fact the exact opposite of self-control. It's really surrendering your will to the machine - and now the machine is in the ghost.
The idea behind this seems quite good, rewarding exercise with television, but 2 hours for 15,000 steps (both daily recommended amounts, according to the article..) seems a little low. Most kids, even if they take to such a device, are going to be watching more than 2 hours TV a day.
As for the article's claim that this will be an 'eye-opener' for those with a sedimentary lifestyle, I think it would be more likely to join the realms of exercise equipment old and new that sits unused while its owners procrastinate about getting more exercise.
Business Voyeur
Children learn from feedback. It's not about punishment, because of course any punished kid can find a way around it. It's about communicating expectations.
Surprisingly, children desperately want to do what their parents think is right. They have a rebellious stage, but on the whole they want approval.
In communities where the children are taught very clearly what the expectations are and the expectations are consistent, children tend to follow them, in the end. This is why religions survive. You rebel for a few years, but you come back to what you were taught in the end if you possibly can. Whether you think that's a good thing or not depends on your view of religion, but not important here.
Honestly, I don't know how long I need to be active, because my parents didn't teach me. I don't feel a creeping sense that something is wrong if I haven't exercised in a few days. I also don't feel a creeping sense of wrongness if I haven't done the dishes or made my bed, but I do if I haven't washed my hands, read a book, paid my bills...
It doesn't matter if your kids aren't doing the right thing for a while. What matters is if they know what the right thing is.
If someone has the willpower to wear these shoes and let them control the TV...then he has the willpower to go running anyway.
Kid claims TV watching is a right!
Engineering is the art of compromise.
"If it enables parents to control TV and exercise in their children, then it will be useful."
A parent can turn off the TV. (A parent can even get rid of the TV.) A parent can make sure that their children eat well. A parent can make sure that their children get an adequate amount of exercise.
If these things aren't already happening, a stupid pair of shoes won't help. People need to take responsibility for themselves, not abrogate it to a microcontroller.
I was a paramedic for far too many years. You have no idea the average level of human stupidity, nor just how bad the average level of parenting is.
Would we need this? Probably not. Are there folks out there for whom this would be useful?
Far too many.
This sig seemed like a good idea at the time....
I don't know about you, but the way I become the mime-drummer is much more energetic than any 10,000 step walk could ever be. But I did ask myself what if the kid had a nervous tick where he bounced his knee under his desk all day? Would that cock up the computations? I'd imagine so...
Who did what now?
giving kids an allowance is using a device to enforce parenting. You should just give them a credit card with a high limit, and teach them not to spend too much.
Get over yourself.
OK so the idea may be a good one (intent) there are too many flaws in the design (as others have pointed out). I have a better product idea... Have an adult around that sets rules on how much TV a child can watch and actually enforce the rules. Oh wait, I think the "adult" patent was approved 4000 years ago.
They should invent something like this for Slashdot... You have to have social interaction with x amount of people before you can waste hours reading slashdot comments.
Simply take the batteries out of the shoes while watching TV. Presto, bango... no signal to the TV to shut off.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
A parent can turn off the TV. (A parent can even get rid of the TV.) A parent can make sure that their children eat well. A parent can make sure that their children get an adequate amount of exercise.
And a parent can choose to use certain tools to get to the right balance point for all of that, all without finding it necessary to stake out an absolute position on the relative morality (or even efficacy) of the technology.
If these things aren't already happening, a stupid pair of shoes won't help.
Your positions would apply to basically any technology, not just these flaky shoes. (I can see the shoes for certain cases, personally. Pediatric onset diabetes? Seems about like a bed wetting alarm for certain kids, to me. Doesn't work and isn't necessary for everyone, so everyone doesn't have one.)
Personally I was once tempted by a "TV Allowance" box that let you put in a certain amount of time for each kid per week. And yeah, they could go to a friend's house, or steal each other's codes, or whatever -- the point isn't to find the absolutely ideal solution, the point is to set up enough of a reminder/nuisance to help shape the behavior, hopefully at a reasonable cost for the practical benefit. And no, the enormous and ever-so-crucial philosophical distinction between "Dad told me that's enough 'Sabrina'" and "The time limit Dad set is up" doesn't matter as much to me as it seems to matter to you.
Personally I think the cruxes are positive reinforcement (rather than chiding) and modeling the right behavior (rather than prating about something you won't do yourself). Parents who show their kids that they evercise themselves have a heck of a lot better chance to convince the kids. But why a dorky technology like this couldn't help that, I don't know. I was planning on giving myself the same allowance the kids had, on the box thing.
These shoes do seem like a niche product -- but I can see them being usable in those senses. I'd be more impressed by some sort of family pedometer tracking system, personally, but to each her own.
"Fundamentalism" isn't about divine morality. It's about human authority.