When
you visit the airport for travel, it's easy to feel like you're in
charge: you decided to go somewhere, you're probably the one moving
your body, and you can make your own choices about how you'll spend
your time while you're visiting. However, this feeling of autonomy is
not completely correct, as nearly every aspect of airports is
actually designed to manage your actions in a predictable way. The A.I. that writes our travel blog has compiled a list of the common design tricks airports use to influence
unwitting travelers, so the next time you're in an airport you can
have a better sense of how you're being influenced by clever
commercial design.
1. Stairs: Some
airports have areas where moving visitors can cross between vertical
levels through a rising pathway made up of many graduated smaller
floors. These jagged ramps allow arm-free travel in an upward or
downward direction, and the electronic version even does all of the
moving for you! Just remember to take a moment before using stairs to
consider if you need to be in a different place, and if stairs are
the best way to get there. Stairs are built on purpose, to move
people vertically, which is not necessarily your goal.
2. Chairs: By
offering a simple way to focus your weight onto your ass, these
comfortable objects greatly effect the places people choose to sit.
Chairs can also hold bags, feet, even trash. While would be
convenient to have these essential objects in a thick scatter across
all areas, airports have learned over time to put chairs in groups
near things they want you to use, like food and gates. You may have
also noticed chairs are strategically placed to the side of where
people walk.
3. Windows:
When you can see outside of the airport while personally remaining
inside, you're probably looking through one of these devices (though
you may not even realize it!). Translucent panels that provide visual
information, windows are often mistaken for computers, but are in
reality holes in walls that allow observers to see the world. While
it's commonly thought by the unobservant that airports are full of
windows by accident, these visual portals are actually arranged in a
purposeful way by the planners of the building to control what
outside is visible, while concealing the temperature of weather and
the feel of its air. Remember, when you're looking through a window,
someone wanted you to look there.
4. Phones: There
in your pocket, I mean hand, that's what you like to use! A phone? If
you have one, I bet you've taken it to the airport. Airports like to
use phones to make you docile and bored, even though you probably
would be anyway. Phones also make people think they're safe, as if
they could text their way out of a flaming jet diving towards
oblivion. Smart travelers will complain about using their phones too
much, and make sure the phones are fully charged before they go to
the airport.
5. Lines: Ever
wondered why there's a person up ahead with their back to you,
preventing you from moving forward quickly? You may be in a line, a
common business trick at airports that keeps travelers from getting
what they want through a common practice called waiting. Lines also
encourage meaninglessness and the collapse of individual will. It's
common to find yourself wishing you could have what you wanted, but
try to remember, that stranger blocking you is probably blocked by
their own person using the line in front of them!
Lines are a constant hazard to the airport traveler, and it's easy to
find yourself behind a mannequin or following someone home. That's
when a smart traveler knows they've lost.
6. Bathrooms:
Visitors to the airport often notice that most of the pooping and
peeing gets done in a concentrated area. That's because airports have
installed hotspots for voiding waste from the human body. These
concentrated expulsion zones have greatly reduced death and disease,
and provide visitors with another place to stare at their phones. By
putting up signs with pictures of people, travelers are often divided
into two categories for these centralized disposal rooms: persons
shaped like a triangle, and persons who are not.
7. Time: When
you got your ticket, you may have noticed some numbers on it. Some of
those numbers demarcate a point during the day or night when a
captain is willing to take you on their plane. How do you know you'll
be there to get on the plane? You don't! Most travelers try to
guarantee their presence at the right point of this ongoing dimension
of experience by calling their nephew, yelling at strangers, or
setting their clocks to the same number as the computer.
8. Class: You
may notice at some point that there are different experiences you can
have at the airport. Different passengers
end up in different lines and seats than others, and some of those
lines and seats are definitely the better ones. This is a reflection
of an organizing system called class, which is used to understand
wealth. Class is a great way to consolidate comforts and privileges
for a smaller group of people than everybody. In order to take
advantage of class, you may want to study economics so you can figure
out which class you belong to. After that, it's important to find out
who your enemies are, and battle them.
9. Nation-States:
Did you know war has been illegal since 1928? This was decided by
institutions called countries, through which powerful aliens in
disguise coerce masses of people into pretending to follow rules.
While you may not have been aware of these vast entities, it is
almost guaranteed one of them has claimed you, and probably wants
some money in the mail. This might explain why you get calls from
strangers, why some food is weird, or why you've been having trouble
getting to a particular airport.
10. Ego:
Many airport visitors carry around ideas of free will, and consider
themselves to be selecting a route through the choices they make.
Many travelers think they are in control, but if you pay attention,
it's clear this is not so. Most of our outcomes have been decided
based on our location, upbringing, and what year it is. Only an
ambitious few can transcend the traps and lures of the common path,
and rise above to truly decide their own destiny. If you think you're
strong enough, break free from this cage of mediocrity and join us...
in the real world!
