The Traffic Light For Zombie Smartphone Users

If you walk down the street with your head buried in your phone, chances are you don’t make as many serendipitous connections with people. On the more dire side, though, it can also be dangerous.

One Dutch town called Bodegraven has been trying out a novel solution: pedestrian lights embedded in the ground, positioned specifically to be in the line of sight of people who are looking down at their phone while walking. Some critics called the idea a reward for bad behaviour. Others saw it as the kind of innovation we will increasingly need to protect us from ourselves.

I lean toward the second view. Designing the world around how people actually behave, rather than how we wish they behaved, is usually the more honest choice.