Week 5 reflection
This week, the idea of Akrasia brought up by Tonkinwise, and Stewart and Lorber-Kasunic really hit home for me. Specifically, when Stewart and Lorber-Kasunic talk about how akrasia has become much more widespread because of our generation’s tendency to multi-task, I could see how much that really applied in my everyday life. One thing I’ve been recently working on is this idea that my mind is racing every second of the day, constantly filled with tasks and responsibilities that I never really slow down to focus on simply the present task at hand. A cluttered mind has the bad habit of breeding Akrasia in all facets of life, and if such relevant stuff is being passed up, it seems as if climate change and environmental consciousness would barely be given a fraction of a thought.
Because of this trend and looking at the future letters that we wrote, I could almost see two ways around this. Many classmates' future worlds had an infrastructure that made you solely focus on your impact on climate change. It’s similar to what Tonkinwise said about how things are moral educators. Ideas like green housing or public eco-friendly and functional art installations teach people to place the ecosystem and the environment at the forefront of their minds. They ingrain morals through daily repetition and allow people to learn from the examples set by things. Also, more institutional changes like taxes and money benefits serve almost as a guide to promote eco-friendly behavior and act as the parent teaching kids how to act. By designing things to shape the morals of the human mind and emphasizing the importance of the issue, akrasia towards sustainability will decrease, because it emphasizes the importance of the issue.
Secondly, I think by improving the mindfulness of people, and helping them slow down and improve direct focus, akrasia can be limited as well. I know for me, I have begun to meditate after a long time of resisting it, because I have started to realize how restless my brain has become. If people are taught to psycho-analyze themselves and see how much akrasia occurs in their everyday life, we can begin to limit it. If designers could create ways in which people were more cognizant and aware of their actions, this would have the same effect as mediation. Designers have been so good at creating seamless user interfaces, that people do not think of the consequences that come with their use of a product. If designers could emphasize mindfulness in harmful actions, akrasia will dwindle as well.
