Hands Free Faucets
Based on McLuhan's Laws of Media (1988):
Obsoletes: What does this technology replace?
Retrieves/Rekindles: What does this technology bring to mind (or retrieve) from the past?
Reverses: What might replace this technology in the future, or what might it cause to occur?
The hands-free faucet appears to be a good use of technology in regards to conservation of water, by limiting the continuous running of water as in traditional turn-on faucets The hands-free faucet is a good idea in regards to technology and the conservation of water not seen in former continuous flow systems. The problem with this is regulation of temperature, like not enough hot water-which can interfere with the reduction of bacteria’s. According to Hardie (2011), the elimination of contact with normal bacteria is the crux of the hygiene hypothesis, which proves such inventions eliminate the normal transfer of bacteria’s needed to keep the immune system strong. Instead, the hands-free systems were shown to build harmful bacteria within and transfer it to human hands (Hardie, 2011). The hands free system may itself become obsolete in areas such as hospitals, where a bacterium is a constant concern. Unless of course the designers of such technology can introduce a bacteria eliminating flow, possibly a treated water (?) Whatever the case, such technologies will continue to be created and obsolesced, according to the McLuhan’s Law of Media- where each new technology sets the stage for its own replacement.
References: Hardie, J. (2011). Are our clean operations harming us? The hygiene hypothesis provides some answers. Oral Healthgroup Online. Retrieved from http://www.oralhealthgroup.com/news/are-our-clean-operatories-harming-us/1000570863/
McLuhan, M., & McLuhan, E. (1988). Laws of media: The new science. Toronto, Canada: University of Toronto Press.
