Reaching new levels of productivity
For all you Pottruck fiends, this invention may be your dream come true. For the rest of you about to enter the real world, I’d pray every night that your future office doesn’t implement these contraptions.
Ladies and gentleman, introducing to you America’s latest attempt to make you healthier. No, it’s not some extreme protein-only diet or a new amphetamine that will suppress your appetite. Rather, it’s the combination of two worlds that should never meet: the gym and the office.
If you’re imagining treadmills attached to functional desks and computer stations, you’re right. This technology encourages walking while working and its developers at the Mayo Clinic see it as the “Office of the Future.” According to a New York Times article a few hundred of these Walkstations have already been sold to nationwide companies.
I’m scared.
Sure, I love a nice jog or a brisk walk, but not while I’m expected to be a productive person at the same time. Of course, the office treadmills would be used on a slow 1-2 mph speed, but the thought of talking on the phone, using the computer and walking at the same time makes me dizzy. I can barely BBM and walk down Locust, let alone talk, walk, and type.
It would also create an awkward office environment. Would people wear work clothes or gym clothes? Be judged on how fast they could comfortably walk? Periodically burst into sprints without warning? What if I didn’t want to walk one day, would there be a chair for me to sit in?
After the novelty wore off, it would probably be another reason I would dread going to work. On the flipside, it would also mean I’d get to wear comfortable shoes, become better at multi-tasking (read: learn coordination skills), and have the perfect rationalization to not go to the gym.
But for now, I’ve never been so thankful to have my butt in a chair.
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