I found the approach of making the house hold strange to reflect on the culture of home life quite interesting. I also agree with this text in a lot of ways.
I have grown up in a somewhat traditional immigrant household. It made me question gender roles very early in life, since I was always annoyed, that certain things had to be done by women only. So I agree strongly, that gendered designs are past their due date. We as designers should definitely alter built-in gender assumptions. I found the example with the razors eye opening, that some daily things are “color-coded” for the genders.
Nowadays, everything has to be done efficiently, but I do agree, that it is overrated. Efficiency is important, but there are way more important things. I think efficiency and productivity are nowadays closely tied to the feeling of selfworth, but instead of designing things for them to be efficient, we should also consider making household tasks enjoyable and playful.
The most important things I’ve kept from this text :
I liked, that they showed different kinds of future dystopian scenarios (which some people deem unrealistic, but are closer to reality than most of us realize), and asked themselves, what skillsets would be needed in the future, to actually survive or change these scenarios. I personally think the most important skill in all of these scenarios would be a sense of community and putting aside one’s ego for the greater good. It might be unrealistic, that all people agree on everything, since everyone has different motivations for change or improvement, but the future cannot be shaped by one person alone. It’s important to question, find creative and unusual solutions, to dare and to just jump out of one’s comfort zone to actually change something. This is how you can inspire, influence or motivate your peers to question and change something.