
Open offices have driven Panasonic to make horse blinders for humans - walterbell
https://techcrunch.com/2018/10/17/open-offices-have-driven-panasonic-to-make-horse-blinders-for-humans/
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afarrell
> early birds can snag one for $260

Rather than waiting for the crowdfunding process and spending 10x the money,
you can click over to your local marksmanship supply store and spend £25.

[https://www.intershoot.co.uk/acatalog/ahg-Anschutz-
Hat-325C-...](https://www.intershoot.co.uk/acatalog/ahg-Anschutz-
Hat-325C-294.html)

I can confirm that this hat is comfortable to wear, including with Bose
QC-35s.

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cobbzilla
Not sure whether to laugh or cry right now. Seems like something out of The
Onion.

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ergothus
It looks ridiculous, but this could be of real use to me. Three things in an
open office distract me: conversations, glare, and motion in my peripheral
vision.

My inability to ignore things other people seem to be able to ignore really
disrupts my ability to focus - to the point where literal blinders are at
least worth serious considerations.

~~~
anigbrowl
The point isn't that these don't serve a purpose - of course they do. The
point is that you're being encouraged to spend money on solving a problem that
your employers inflicted upon you.

~~~
ALittleLight
It's really a problem my employer is inflicting on themselves. I've had my own
office and worked in an open space. I feel I'm vastly more productive behind a
closed door.

At the end of the day, my employer pays full price for my productivity and I
deliver the fraction of it I can come up with in an open office. I also make
small talk with coworkers and dial in to meetings from my desk and complain
about the open office at every opportunity.

~~~
deathanatos
The productivity hit, sure. But[1],

> _A systematic survey of research upon the effects of open-plan offices found
> frequent negative effects in some traditional workplaces: high levels of
> noise, stress, conflict, high blood pressure and a high staff turnover._

The blood pressure and stress likely translate into the non-work portions of
your life.

[1]:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_plan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_plan)

~~~
yellowapple
You're assuming that employers actually care about your well-being :)

~~~
deathanatos
They don't have to care about their workers in this case. Studies also say
that such work environments are also hugely detrimental to both employee
retention and productivity, and health.

Corporations have incredibly difficultly a. not following short term fads
(Facebook did this so it must be good) and b. not trading long-term losses
(productivity, sickness, retention) for short-term gains (less real-estate ==
cheaper) that get outweighed by those losses.

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nathanaldensr
Please don't buy these, folks. All you'll do is encourage your employers to
rationalize their horrible choices to implement open offices. "Well, look,
everyone has these cool horse blinders on, there's no more problem, right? You
can all focus now, right?"

~~~
anotherevan
Just say, “Neigh!”

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acd
Maybe we should have personal offices instead of wearing horse blinders?

~~~
jsilence
Maybe we should have cocoons. We could snoozle in our little personal shellter
and have a birth experience every day! Maybe we can have some sort of VR that
makes us think we are in an open environment. Then we would not have to leave
the cocoon at all. Also our machine overlords could stack us together to
harvest bio energy in some form of large battery tower... oh well, nevermind.

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hrktb
The initial blog : [https://www.dezeen.com/2018/10/17/panasonics-wearable-
blinke...](https://www.dezeen.com/2018/10/17/panasonics-wearable-blinkers-
concentrate-open-plan-offices-technology/)

Panasonic’s page describing the project:
[https://panasonic.net/design/flf/works/wear-
space/](https://panasonic.net/design/flf/works/wear-space/)

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mmerlin
Working all day isolated inside your VR headset will be a thing at some point
in the future, switching to AR mode when you need to interact with your co-
workers in the real world.

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mirimir
I'd rather work at home, with a Wheelie Boy in the office.

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scrumper
This plus a narrow field of view screen filter... it’ll take off. Your office
is whenever you want it to be.

Don’t get me wrong - I hate it. But it’ll happen regardless.

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Boxbot
cheaper than paying for the sq. footage for you to sit in

~~~
TeMPOraL
Yes, and this way we'll end up with factory-farm offices.

~~~
deathanatos
Honestly, back when we (in CA) had to vote Prop 12 in November, and I'm
reading the previous law, which read,

> _a person shall not tether or confine any covered animal on a farm, for all
> or the majority of any day, in a manner that prevents such animal from:_

> _(a) Lying down, standing up, and fully extending his or her limbs; and_

> _(b) Turning around freely_

and then I'm sitting there wondering if this animal has more personal space
than I do¹. Pretty sure I can't extend my limbs fully without impacting the
desk next to me's area.

¹in between the quizzicalness of PETA not wanting better treatment for
animals. I mean, I "get" their point, but it was ridiculously absolutist.

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slumos
When are we going to stop religious wars and admit that the optimal
configuration varies by individual?

~~~
yellowapple
For what individual is an open-office environment actually optimal?

~~~
jsilence
Stoics?

