Technology, Interrupted

@edenttechnology · 3 comments · 250 words

Here's a brilliant idea I had. And it would work if humans weren't garbage.

I was sat on a stationary train. It had stopped for some unfathomable reason. I say "unfathomable" - the driver made an announcement over the speaker system, but I didn't hear it because I had my Bluetooth headphones on.

Imagine if important information could interrupt your audio.

Here's a *hand-wavey* description. You could tell your headphones to pair with the train. When the driver has an urgent announcement, your headphones would pause your music so you could hear it.

But, of course, I know it would be immediately abused by advertising. Because humans are garbage.

Or, you'd get annoyed because the train driver keeps pressing the emergency button to announce routine station stops.

Or, you'd accidentally pair with the train next to you.

If you have a hearing impairment, you're probably about to leave a comment saying "Or they could just put the information on the in-train displays!" Yup - but they don't, because humans are garbage.

OK, not garbage. But a publisher's needs are different from your needs. A busy train driver doesn't always have time to type out a message, or remember which announcement button to press, and retrofitting trains with this technology is expensive, and Apple will have a proprietary implementation which doesn't work with anything else.

One day, perhaps, the trains will all be on time and technology will just work. Until then, I'll just pause my music.

3 thoughts on “Technology, Interrupted”

2020-02-18 12:56

Marcus Downing says:

Whenever I visit Europe, I'm impressed that the information screens on trains actually show useful information. Like how many stops there are, and your estimated arrival at a given stop. It's possible to do these things well. It just requires some patience, some thought, and an employer that cares about quality of service, not just short-term margins.
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1. 2020-03-02 12:15
  
  Owen Blacker says:
  
  It's not even just in Europe — some of our trains already do this well. I remember being impressed by a train on South Western Railway's suburban services where the in-train displays showed how full each car was, making it easier for passengers to find a seat. Some of our intercity services (and even Thameslink) show a diagram of each train before it arrives, showing which cars are first-class and which are for us mere mortals. It's really frustrating that the future is quite so unevenly distributed.
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2020-02-18 13:28

Samathy said on social.samathy.space:

@Edent The theme of Good Ideas for the Betterment of Society exploited by capitalistic corporations and bad implementations in this article is a good one.Also, as a note - Lots of trains in the UK have terrible, often faulty, announcement systems. Its hard to me to hear them, and my partner ( who is partly deaf ) often doesnt even notice that anything was said at all.This tech would be excellent! If...it was actually good and not co-opted by evil.
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3 thoughts on “Technology, Interrupted”

Marcus Downing says:

Owen Blacker says:

Samathy said on social.samathy.space:

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