Where I live, we are currently renovating the four lifts that bring the tenants to one of the 30 floors. The new lifts are bright and shiny with one little gadget included at the last minute in the price negociation by the lowest bidder: An LCD display in the wall of each lift cabin to show news of the owners syndicate.
All is well, but there is one little odd behaviour I observed these days. Many people (and I mean MANY) while looking at the display, currently showing the desktop of a Windows XP computer, have a common reflex: They lift a finger to touch the screen and check if the screen has tactile input.
Isn’t it interesting to note that so many people of all ages would think it the most easily conceivable behaviour for a Windows LCD screen? I assumed that the vast majority of them do not own a touch-sensitive display, but I am now reconsidering this position. Probably, touch screens are really becoming part of our lives. And if you see some computer output on a flat screen embedded somewhere it is a safe assumption that there will be some interaction with the user and it will go through some kind of touch screen input.
We did live a real social revolution through technology in the last 20 years, didn’t we?
Leave a Reply