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The Rehirement Plan
Others
The Rehirement Plan
The Rehirement Plan (TRP) originally is a speculative proposal that imagines and simulates the scenario of how the social value, self-esteem, and mental well-being of the elderly can be rebuilt in the society of 2060, by which China is estimated to fully enter an era of an ageing society. As the project continued to develop in the society dialogue, the project began to gradually focus on the notions of ageing, social value, and group activity effects, aiming to challenge a stereotyped image of seniors and explore a possible solution to the problem of social value loss, which an ageing society faces in the foreseeable future.
Context
By conducting a case study on Chinese senior citizens, The Rehirement Plan addresses and puts into question the global phenomenon of marginalisation of seniors during the ongoing development of a technology-dependent society (In ancient customs, in order to balance the problem of resources and energy in society, elderly people who were generally considered to have no productive value would be abandoned in caves to wait to die when they reached a certain age). As the ageing problem worsens and the energy crisis continues, a growing number of physically healthy elderly people, especially from Asia, are suffering from a sense of worthlessness and insignificance. It occurs to them when they no longer find what they are implementing to contribute valuable, and when they perceive the disconnection stretching between themselves and the society. Eventually, it results in their sense of losing social value and therefore posing a threat to their mental health. (Studies have shown that the year-by-year increase in the suicide rate among the elderly in China is directly related to the continued decline in the elderly’s sense of social value.)
Inspired by the popular phenomenon of Square Dancing in China’s society and Prof. Daniel Shin’s paper on reconstructing psychological behaviour from human exercise behaviour(2014), The Rehirement Plan proposes a group of 19 power generators in the shape of fitness equipment be installed in public spaces such as parks and plazas that are easily accessible to the citizens as an effective means to not only strengthen senior citizens’ connections with the self-psychological construction through group sports activities but also provide an opportunity for these so-called twilight-bloomers (referring to the energetic seniors) to retrieve their social value.
By encouraging the elderly to participate in the process of generating electricity for the city, this project attempts to not just resolve, but also serve as a medium for intervening in society and unfolding broader conversations around the following questions: How can they embrace better social cohesion and recharge their mental health through engaging in collective activities? How can we take advantage of senior citizens’ well-being to mitigate problems (such as energy crisis) in a predictable unbalanced society?
The Design
In Professor Daniel Shin’s paper, he conducted a series of Home User Study focusing on the role of Human-powered Products (HPP) in changing people’s behaviour(More specifically, it is a progress from behavioural changes to psychological changes. i.e., fixed daily exercise behaviours can help people establish positive psychological activities), from which he came to a conclusion that one of the benefits HPP offered was supporting people’s mental health and cultivating motivations (Shin, 2014).
Other studies have shown that the elderly have a psychological rejection of high-tech products, which is one of the reasons why they feel marginalised by society. Therefore, the appearance design of the equipment was chosen to be close to the public fitness equipment that can be seen everywhere in China.
Based on that conclusion, The Rehirement Plan designs the device as fitness equipment that provides incentives for doing sports (Because public fitness equipment is ubiquitous in public environments in China, when people see similar equipment they don’t need to learn how to use it.) and converts human’s kinetic energy into electricity(The converted electrical energy will be used as a reward mechanism to encourage the elderly to continue and regularly participate in sports activities). The low-tech exterior design also makes these machines more psychologically acceptable to older people. (By 2060, China's ageing population will reach 400 million. After very basic calculations, it is estimated that when 400 million elderly people generate electricity together, they can light up the Oriental Pearl TV Tower in Shanghai)
Testing in real-world environments
Since the completion of its proposal, The Rehirement Plan has entered different phases of implementation. The first phase was experimenting with prototypes in local communities in Beijing, China. When performing tests in the Temple of Heaven Park and Temple of Earth Park, I received a warm welcome and great feedback from the local elderly people who praised the device for improving their sense of self-value, and expressed a desire to have this installed in the community
I then moved on to the second implementation phase, presenting this project to the general public through various exhibitions and public events. After I delivered the speech at various occasions such as the Shanghai Design Week, and the Creation of Creators Design Exhibition (Shanghai), this project sparked interest and discussion among researchers. I was invited by the National Interdisciplinary Institute on Aging to give a talk, and also involved in discussions with creative communities regarding the possibility of transforming this device into a product that can be installed in cities.
Epilogue
An ageing society refers to a demographic model in which people of 60 or above account for 10% of the population. It is indisputable that the ageing of the population has become a serious social issue worldwide, followed by problems such as labour shortage, pension pressure, and worrisome survival quality. It is estimated that the aged population in China will exceed 0.4 billion by 2060, which signifies that China is one of the countries most seriously affected by the problem of an ageing society. While the government attributes the social issues of the elders to their idleness, the essential problem is rooted in their unhealthy state of mind. Under the circumstances, by taking China as a case study, The Rehirement Plan seeks to provide a glimpse of how global senior citizens' mental health should be identified and addressed, and how a creative way of stimulating their motivation for exercising, thus improving psychological well-being can be applied. The eternal goal of this project is to help raise global empathic consciousness on the social issues facing the aged, and present an international medium for discussing and promoting sustainable solutions.
Through previous experiments and communications with experts, I found out that ageing was not only limited to seniors but has become a psychological tendency for people of all ages, due to the accelerated iterations of technological society. The psychological "ageing" of children and adolescents became particularly prominent after 2020. This will also be the next development direction of this work. I hope to participate in this The opportunity of the challenge provides encouragement and broader communication opportunities to continue my future research and creation.
The Rehirement Plan (TRP) originally is a speculative proposal that imagines and simulates the scenario of how the social value, self-esteem, and mental well-being of the elderly can be rebuilt in the society of 2060, by which China is estimated to fully enter an era of an ageing society. As the project continued to develop in the society dialogue, the project began to gradually focus on the notions of ageing, social value, and group activity effects, aiming to challenge a stereotyped image of seniors and explore a possible solution to the problem of social value loss, which an ageing society faces in the foreseeable future.
Context
By conducting a case study on Chinese senior citizens, The Rehirement Plan addresses and puts into question the global phenomenon of marginalisation of seniors during the ongoing development of a technology-dependent society (In ancient customs, in order to balance the problem of resources and energy in society, elderly people who were generally considered to have no productive value would be abandoned in caves to wait to die when they reached a certain age). As the ageing problem worsens and the energy crisis continues, a growing number of physically healthy elderly people, especially from Asia, are suffering from a sense of worthlessness and insignificance. It occurs to them when they no longer find what they are implementing to contribute valuable, and when they perceive the disconnection stretching between themselves and the society. Eventually, it results in their sense of losing social value and therefore posing a threat to their mental health. (Studies have shown that the year-by-year increase in the suicide rate among the elderly in China is directly related to the continued decline in the elderly’s sense of social value.)
Inspired by the popular phenomenon of Square Dancing in China’s society and Prof. Daniel Shin’s paper on reconstructing psychological behaviour from human exercise behaviour(2014), The Rehirement Plan proposes a group of 19 power generators in the shape of fitness equipment be installed in public spaces such as parks and plazas that are easily accessible to the citizens as an effective means to not only strengthen senior citizens’ connections with the self-psychological construction through group sports activities but also provide an opportunity for these so-called twilight-bloomers (referring to the energetic seniors) to retrieve their social value.
By encouraging the elderly to participate in the process of generating electricity for the city, this project attempts to not just resolve, but also serve as a medium for intervening in society and unfolding broader conversations around the following questions: How can they embrace better social cohesion and recharge their mental health through engaging in collective activities? How can we take advantage of senior citizens’ well-being to mitigate problems (such as energy crisis) in a predictable unbalanced society?
The Design
In Professor Daniel Shin’s paper, he conducted a series of Home User Study focusing on the role of Human-powered Products (HPP) in changing people’s behaviour(More specifically, it is a progress from behavioural changes to psychological changes. i.e., fixed daily exercise behaviours can help people establish positive psychological activities), from which he came to a conclusion that one of the benefits HPP offered was supporting people’s mental health and cultivating motivations (Shin, 2014).
Other studies have shown that the elderly have a psychological rejection of high-tech products, which is one of the reasons why they feel marginalised by society. Therefore, the appearance design of the equipment was chosen to be close to the public fitness equipment that can be seen everywhere in China.
Based on that conclusion, The Rehirement Plan designs the device as fitness equipment that provides incentives for doing sports (Because public fitness equipment is ubiquitous in public environments in China, when people see similar equipment they don’t need to learn how to use it.) and converts human’s kinetic energy into electricity(The converted electrical energy will be used as a reward mechanism to encourage the elderly to continue and regularly participate in sports activities). The low-tech exterior design also makes these machines more psychologically acceptable to older people. (By 2060, China's ageing population will reach 400 million. After very basic calculations, it is estimated that when 400 million elderly people generate electricity together, they can light up the Oriental Pearl TV Tower in Shanghai)
Testing in real-world environments
Since the completion of its proposal, The Rehirement Plan has entered different phases of implementation. The first phase was experimenting with prototypes in local communities in Beijing, China. When performing tests in the Temple of Heaven Park and Temple of Earth Park, I received a warm welcome and great feedback from the local elderly people who praised the device for improving their sense of self-value, and expressed a desire to have this installed in the community
I then moved on to the second implementation phase, presenting this project to the general public through various exhibitions and public events. After I delivered the speech at various occasions such as the Shanghai Design Week, and the Creation of Creators Design Exhibition (Shanghai), this project sparked interest and discussion among researchers. I was invited by the National Interdisciplinary Institute on Aging to give a talk, and also involved in discussions with creative communities regarding the possibility of transforming this device into a product that can be installed in cities.
Epilogue
An ageing society refers to a demographic model in which people of 60 or above account for 10% of the population. It is indisputable that the ageing of the population has become a serious social issue worldwide, followed by problems such as labour shortage, pension pressure, and worrisome survival quality. It is estimated that the aged population in China will exceed 0.4 billion by 2060, which signifies that China is one of the countries most seriously affected by the problem of an ageing society. While the government attributes the social issues of the elders to their idleness, the essential problem is rooted in their unhealthy state of mind. Under the circumstances, by taking China as a case study, The Rehirement Plan seeks to provide a glimpse of how global senior citizens' mental health should be identified and addressed, and how a creative way of stimulating their motivation for exercising, thus improving psychological well-being can be applied. The eternal goal of this project is to help raise global empathic consciousness on the social issues facing the aged, and present an international medium for discussing and promoting sustainable solutions.
Through previous experiments and communications with experts, I found out that ageing was not only limited to seniors but has become a psychological tendency for people of all ages, due to the accelerated iterations of technological society. The psychological "ageing" of children and adolescents became particularly prominent after 2020. This will also be the next development direction of this work. I hope to participate in this The opportunity of the challenge provides encouragement and broader communication opportunities to continue my future research and creation.
