BY: CLAIRE KIM
Habits can be frustrating. It is almost like an involuntary behavior for us that we can’t control. Personally, I had a really severe habit and that was peeling the skin off of my fingers and lips. I don’t know how it started, but as time passed by it just happened to be a part of my daily routine. Habits are scary because without knowing we just keep on doing it as a customary practice. Eventually, I learned to stop my painful habit by just putting tape around my fingers which helped a lot. For some people, habits may be harder to fix and may need some extra work and time to really overcome it. So in those cases, a device like the Peak may be the best option for them.
Peak is the newest product developed by Google. The device’s main objective is to help us create positive habits and let go of the negative ones. Through a system of encouragement and step by step teaching, Peak will act as a supporter for us as we achieve certain missions to reach our goal. At first, from just reading the function layout I was doubtful, but after looking at the main focus of the technology it seems really cool.
To use Peak, we have to connect it to our devices aka smartphones and then it’s activated. When we complete certain missions or habits, we get a small light show as a celebration. Honestly, this reminds me of the toys I played with back when I was in preschool. I am actually quite interested to see if the device will really trigger us to be motivated each time with just a light show. I understand why they opted for a colorful light show instead of text messages but I don’t know if this will reach out to the older audience.
Something that caught me as I was reading, was Google’s statement that they viewed their so-called “lamp” as more of a platform. That’s interesting.
At first glance, the appearance of Peak left me with no words. I was kind of confused as to why they chose that design for their device, but after reading their explanation I was really shocked. They are really creative.”We feel it’s beautiful, and in our early testing it evoked a lot of great associations for people, from Mount Everest, a common symbol for achieving goals, to an iceberg, 90 percent submerged, like the latent potential that so many people need just a small nudge to unlock.”
Honestly, the system is great and all but, I am most excited for the little light show that they will perform.
claire kim. 