The 'close-door' button on lifts and social movements..

The close door button on most lifts doesn't do anything.

It doesn't speed things up, it doesn't reset the timer, it isn't even connected when you take the back off. It is the same joke mechanism as on many traffic crossings: it really doesn't change the flow of all those cars carefully timed, it just makes you feel better.


So what can we learn from this..?

1. Firstly, it is the simple benefit of having an option. There is a choice to press or not press which makes you concider how busy you are and what to do about it.
2. Secondly, they make people feel like they're doing something. By something as simple as pressing we feel part of the solution.

I think co-producing, even of this minimalist kind, will start to change the mindset of people who feel powerless. If people are not happy about inequality, what can they contribute to reducing it? If people think something is being done badly, where do they start making the smallest of changes..?


I think they start in pushing a button. and if we can leverage in a further 20% of the population thinking about 1) their options, and 2) their actions, then we have the start of a social movement.. And maybe the button doesn;t matter that much. Like #50radicals, maybe its the button pushing that counts..?