I am a bit obsessed with kettles. Looking back on my posts I’m quite surprised I haven’t written about them before.
Today I’m prompted by a story in the New Scientist. It’s about an energy-monitoring system developed in the UK that could be used to track the use of electricity by an older person and potentially alert family if the kettle’s not been switched on at the usual time. The Howz system monitors how electrical appliances are being used during the course of the day and learns the owner’s daily routines. If it detects something out of the ordinary – like an oven being left on for hours or the kettle not being used all day, it sends a message to a nominated person. It can also detect more subtle changes to a daily routine that might indicate something else is going on with that person.
That’s great.
But at the other end of the kettle story, are manufacturers and shops taking into consideration the everyday needs of older consumers in their designs?
I ask this purely on anecdotal evidence from my household.
We have just thrown away a kettle that lasted less than two years. It was naff – indeed dangerous – from the start. You had to wait until the boiling had died down before pouring or water would cascade everywhere. It was hugely easy to knock the switch and turn the kettle on by mistake – and no obvious sign that it was now switched on, especially if your hearing isn’t what it was. Then it started to rust and and finally it began to leak through the bottom onto the base below.
So we replaced it with a similar looking model from another manufacturer. Much more robust, but at the same time incredibly heavy for older wrists which tend to be weaker with or without the added bonus of arthritis.
This kettle too has no visible light that it is on. At least, that’s what I thought. Turns out that both kettles are designed for right-handers, and as long as you conform you can see the blue “on” light on the side. Turn the kettle round and it’s nowhere in sight.
So here we have out of a sample of two, kettles that don’t take the needs of the older person or the left-handed user into account.
It would be a great advance if we could see more thought put into the everyday use of appliances for older consumers in general who are starting to feel the effects of lower mobility and strength, as well as the pioneering work on helping the elderly.
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