New technology for the office has huge potential, but it doesn’t have to be in your face. Much like smart car technology, most of the new features of a connected office can work ”under the hood” without us ever noticing them or having to figure out how systems work. Cue the “single purpose device”.
Technostress is real
It’s easy to get overwhelmed when there are loads of options. Research has shown time and time again that we often make bad decisions when we get tired from too much information. Technostress or digital stress is quite a new concept, but it’s pretty evident that it’s real. The coming of the digital age has resulted in an abundance of choices. Just think about how many passwords you need to keep track of today. There are even apps that makes a business out of remembering all your passwords! No wonder people are feeling hindered and not helped by technology.
A possible solution to digital stress
Single purpose devices, as they’re called, are built to meet specific purposes and usage requirements. Take for example, the classic video arcade of the 80’s and 90’s where the “computers” only ran one game. A more current example is wayfinding kiosks at malls where you only use it to navigate to the right store. A meeting room manager sitting outside the meeting room is another good example. The room booker is solely designed to making the meeting area work and as a user you don’t need to learn anything since the user interface is as minimalistic as possible.
Single purpose devices
We believe that single purpose devices will become more common in the near future, from helping people in their daily activities to being a vital part of the interconnected smart office buildings of tomorrow.