A South Korean designer has developed an ingenious so-called “Third Eye” device to help distracted smartphone users cross the road.
Well, it wasn’t really meant for that. But we still think it’s a pretty hilarious stunt for the smartphone community.
It’s basically a piss-take against a generation of smartphone users who are so glued to their phones that they can’t even help themselves from bumping into walls.
Essentially, phone bad.
Paeng Min-wook is the mastermind behind this brilliant eye-dea.
At just 28 years old, he’s a postgraduate in innovation design engineering at the Royal College of Art and Imperial College, London. So, naturally, he’s the guy that makes fake robotic eyes for social commentary.
Ok then … #technologysolutions #thirdeye pic.twitter.com/mUlyNaYdRm
— Rahul Dev (@RahulDevRising) June 8, 2021
So how does it work?
Basically, a robotic eyeball gets strapped to the user’s forehead. The device then opens a translucent eyelid when it senses that the user’s head has been lowered to look at their phone.
From there, the device will beep when it’s within a couple of metres from an obstacle to warn the user of a possible collision. Sort of like what a lot of modern cars are doing these days. (Have we really become this inept as a society?)
And despite being a total parody, it’s still taken South Korea (and the world) by storm. I guess you could say it’s in the eye of the storm… hehe…
Paeng trialled his ingenious device in the streets of Seoul this week, garnering loads of attention from passerby.
One Seoul resident, Lee Ok-jo, says that he thought Paeng “looked like an alien with an eye on his forehead.”
No, this will interfere with evolutions way of removing all the stupid people.
— Joe&Sandy (@NightTalkers) June 4, 2021
He then admitted: “these days many young people can get into accidents while using their mobile phone. This would be good for them.”
Clearly, however, Lee is unaware that this is all meant to be a joke.
Paeng explained: “by presenting a satirical solution, I hope people would recognise the severity of their gadget addiction and look back at themselves.”
Perhaps not. Perhaps Lee is onto something, and Paeng has simply encouraged a new kind of lazy.
Oh, dear.
