There is nothing dystopian about these high-tech flashers for humans

You already have the impression to have too much fun in the office? As if your boss did not have enough value in your life? Fear nothing: Panasonic has designed a pair of high-tech turn signals * that blocks your peripheral vision to help you focus on the job at hand.

The concept is called Wear Space, which consists of a lightweight, wraparound fabric screen that conceals a Bluetooth headset. The screen reduces your horizontal field of view by approximately 60%, while the headphones have an integrated noise canceling function that allows you to listen to the music of your choice. It recharges via USB and has a battery life of 20 hours.

Wear Space is not (yet) an official Panasonic product, but a prototype has been developed by the company's Future of Life design studio. An earlier version was presented to SXSW earlier this year, but the creators of Wear Space are now collecting funds for the device at the Japanese crowdfunding site GreenFunding.

Image: Panasonic

According to the crowdfunding website, Wear Space is supposed to create a "personal psychological space" to allow the wearer to help themselves to focus, especially in noisy and entertaining open-plan offices. The device is not intended to isolate the wearer but also to communicate with others by telling them: Go away, I'm busy.

"When someone wears wear space, you can clearly see that the wearer wants to focus." We think it's very important, "said Kang Hwayoung, a member of the team that designed the product, at Japan Times. Kang noted that while open-plan offices have become more popular, "everyone sometimes wants to be alone and focus."

The wearing space certainly has a dystopian mood. This sounds like a high-tech version of the "wings" (or hats) worn by the characters in the television adaptation of The servant's tale. In the book, they are designed to hide the wearer of sight, but also to limit their ability to perceive their environment, thus stifling any sense of independence or freedom.

Panasonic hopes to raise 15 million yen (about $ 133,000) for the Wear Space through crowdfunding, and each unit will cost about $ 250. And who knows, in a culture that favors productivity above almost everything else, the Wear Space has no chance to be heard. If it Is become common, at least we will not have to be embarrassed to look into each other's eyes. We will have our turn signals.

* Also known as blinkers. The metaphor we are looking for here is that of equipment used to restrict the vision of a horse. We use the appropriate terminology, as recommended. by the Kentucky Derby.