Reprogrammed Behavior

Wavey Walmart Washbasin image

I'm so used to automatic hand faucets at Walmart, that when I came across a conventional faucet a few weeks ago in a hotel, I couldn't get it to work!

I tried dancing my hand back and forth in front of the overflow hole underneath the faucet, but it wouldn't give me my water! I was even staring at the knobs, and not comprehending how this faucet worked.

When I realized my folly, I was reminded of a book I read when I was around 10 years old.

House of Stairs by William Sleator is a children/young adult book about a social experiment where a group of teens are put in this M.C. Escher-style house of stairs. They are trained to dance when the colored patterns of a light at the center of this labyrinth flash red, to receive food and water.

At the end of the book, [Spoiler alert: Darth Vader is Luke Skywalker's father], the teens are rescued, but when they return to society they are unable to function normally. While crossing a street, the pedestrian light turns red, and instead of finishing their walk to the other side... the teens impulsively start dancing in traffic.

Moving my hands around the sink, I felt like those reprogrammed kids dancing in the street. Grown so accustomed the way technology works as part of our lives, that our 'natural' behavior has been reprogrammed to habits that otherwise would make no sense to do!