Five Weirdest Ways People Use Technology To Get Stuff Done

Technology has enhanced our lives and changed the way we do things on a daily basis. But there are always people that take it just a little bit too far. Then it just gets weird.

To become ‘better’ humans

Since the 70s, shows like The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman have popularised the idea of using technology to imbue individuals with superhuman abilities. Technological advancements have move this from the fictional world to the realms of reality with products like bionic ears and eyes for people who are deaf and blind, respectively.

Those are more conventional uses for bionics. Others bodily attachments are just downright strange. Take Niel Harbisson, who is officially recognised as a “cyborg”. He is the first person to have a hole drilled into his skull so he could have an antenna attached to it. Harbisson uses the antenna to perceive elements of the world around him as vibrations. He can send and receive signals and data from satellites as well.

What Harbisson can do is downright awesome, but I’m not sure I’d like to drill a hole in my head to obtain his powers.

For vanity sake

Somewhat related to the idea of improving parts of the human body, there are people out there using technology just to appear more attractive.

Take these LED eyelashes, for example, which are said to make eyes appear bigger:

They serve no practical purpose other than to attract the attention of passers-by.

On second thoughts, maybe they’ll be good as reading lights at night in bed?

Drone Waiters

Drone image from Shutterstock

Amazon may be experimenting with a drone delivery service now, but YO! Sushi was already onto it back in 2013. The UK sushi franchise experimented with using drones as waiters to serve food to customers.

You can see it in action here:

The iTray didn’t take off (pun intended) and the novelty wore off quickly. Even now, two years on, the idea of having an expensive hovering contraption carrying food over to people seems like a bit of an overkill. I can also picture humorous instances of drones spazzing out and flying the food into customers’ faces.

An air-drop of alcoholic beverages by drones, on the other hand, is totally acceptable…

Creating second-hand memories

Holiday selfie image from Shutterstock

We’re all attached to our smartphones and one of the features that many of us use often is the built-in camera. We don’t think twice when we whip it out to document significant events in our lives.

At big music concerts and at major tourist destinations, we see people taking a plethora of pictures and footage. But while the camera captures what’s happening, the people themselves are missing out taking in the whole experience.

A study done by Fairfield University showed that taking photos of things may actually impede our ability to form clear memories of them later down the track. So if you are intending to be snap happy on your next holiday, you might as well save that money and just Google pictures of the destination instead. You won’t remember much of it anyway.

High-tech bathroom breaks

Toilet image from Shutterstock

Unless you have a bladder of steel, chances are you visit the bathroom several times a day, so we can all appreciate applying a bit of technology to toilet bowls to make the experience a little more enjoyable. But Japan takes it to a whole new level with the amount of features they put in their potties.

Here’s a video showing off the array of high-tech toilets doing everything from washing your butt to closing the lid for you: