Coffeetable Blog

How would you like to take the stairs rather than the escalator or the elevator? Would you pick up your trash if you missed shooting it in the garbage bin? Maybe you would, but it won't be something that you would look forward to, right? But what if tasks like these that are obviously good for us can be fun to do, encouraging us to even go out of our way to be able to do it? That is the fun theory.

An initiative of Volkswagen, the fun theory is all about changing people's behavior for the better by making it easy, even fun, for them to do so. Based on the two videos on the site (click on pic above), ways to accomplish this include taking the mundane out of a certain activity, like giving music to your steps as you climb a set of stairs decorated like a piano and fitted with the applicable piano sounds as you step up. You can even see in a portion of the video an old man who is already slow in his steps choosing the piano stairs over the adjacent escalator.

Another way they have done it is making something amusing, like the case of the deepest trash bin. A trash bin is fitted with a sensor that when you put in a trash, would create a sound like an object is falling to a very very deep hole ending in a thud. People who have heard it even went so far as to collect garbage from around to put in the bin.

Of course, these ideas can lose their edge as you see them day in and day out. Which only highlights the need for more and more ideas like these. That's why Volkswagen is sponsoring a competition called the Fun Theory Award, where they will have cash awards for fun ways to change behaviour. Head over to their site to find out how to submit your ideas.

And in the interest of making it fun for everyone, I am sharing one of their videos from the site right here.



Have a fun day!