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New seat alert app for pregnant commuters
- mnkypete 10y agoNot to be that guy, but what happened to being a decent human being and just getting up for pregnant women and elderly people? Do we really need an app for that now? As a founder I really do see lot's of value in technology to drive our society forwards, but I just can't wrap my head around some stuff..
- waldfee 10y agoAlso simply asking people to give over their seat. That's exactly what the app does. Why not ask people directly? Just to avoid having to talk to them? Seems very strange to me.
- michaelt 10y agoWhy not ask people directly? Imagine public transport was full of 90% polite people who would happily give up their seat, and 10% assholes who'd get in your face for no good reason. And you couldn't tell those people apart. If all the polite people had the app installed, using it would let you address them and avoid the 10%.
- StavrosK 10y agoImagine if public transport was full of 90% polite people, and 10% full of selfish people, who'd say "sorry, no". Then this app wouldn't have to exist.
- colanderman 10y agoOr just ask loud enough so that the potential-asshole and his two neighbors hear, giving you a 99.9% chance of getting a seat, and a 0% chance of getting chewed out because no-one acts like a dick to a pregnant woman on a crowded subway for obvious reasons.
- ajdlinux 10y agoIf you're adequately introverted/shy (which is me, most of the time) or just feeling tired/exhausted/drained (which I imagine is not atypical for expectant mothers), then I can understand not having the energy to ask something of a stranger on the train.
- ENTP 10y agoWhilst I agree with you, the London Underground does not really foster an environment where people would feel comfortable with that.
- mnkypete 10y agoYeah, I could picture that.. True.. Not really often in London, but riding the Underground wasn't something you'd do for fun..
- robjan 10y agoI use the tube every day and rarely see a situation where people don't instinctively stand for pregnant or elderly people. People don't want to talk to one another but we locals are generally courteous.
- pyb 10y agoI've often seen very elderly people left standing in the tube.
- TulliusCicero 10y agoTo play devil's advocate, early on, pregnancy may not be visible, and even when it appears to be visible...they might just be fat. And you really don't want to make that particular mistake.
- Svenskunganka 10y agoJust politely ask someone if you could have their seat because you're pregnant? Which is like, what this app is doing.
- chrisseaton 10y agoThis could end up being very awkward if the person needed the seat themselves for a medical reason, or just says no for whatever other reason.
- pc86 10y agoThe "easy" solution is that it needs to be acceptable to say "no" when someone asks you for your seat, regardless of whatever outwardly obvious physical conditions the two parties have.
- rebuilder 10y agoTalking to people can lead to awkward situations. It's not the end of the world.
- chrisseaton 10y agoAre apps only useful if they prevent the end of the world? What's wrong with making things just a little easier?
- rebuilder 10y agoI wasn't really under the impression we were strictly discussing the app anymore. But on that subject, I do think the cure may be worse than the disease in this case - this app helps alleviate a minor inconvenience in the short term by making it easier to avoid human contact, the lack of which is arguably the reason people aren't behaving well in the first place.
- jgrahamc 10y agoI have literally once offered my seat to a pregnant woman on the Tube in London and it turned out that she was just overweight round the middle and not pregnant. It was extremely embarrassing for both of us. I greatly appreciate the women who wear these badges: https://tfl.gov.uk/forms/23479.aspx https://tfl.gov.uk/forms/23479.aspx because it makes it unambiguous. It can honestly be hard on a packed London underground train to tell the difference between a pregnant woman and someone who is simply overweight.
- esja 10y agoThat experience is almost a rite of passage for Londoners :-)
- nothrabannosir 10y agoIn your defence, offering up your seat to anyone is a respectable thing to do, regardless of pregnancy or weight.
- supergreg 10y agoThat happens to me and elderly people. I never know when they are elderly enough to offer my seat.
- Cerium 10y agoIf they are noticeably older and you can handle standing there is no harm giving up your seat.
- colanderman 10y agoMy rule is, if they use a cane or walker, are visibly hunched, are steadying themselves with both hands, or seem to be actively looking for a seat, I get up. Otherwise no. (The older population in Boston is pretty fit; if I offered my seat to everyone with grey hair I think I'd insult quite a few perfectly hale people.) Also, pregnant women tend to hold their bellies. Overweight people don't. And if you accidentally offer your seat to someone who's chubby and has indigestion, well just tell them they looked like they had indigestion.
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- sjcsjc 10y agoIf I spot someone whom I think might be pregnant I just stand up without comment. I don't want to make the mistake someone made with a female relative of mine: "Oh, are you expecting? Would you like to sit down?", to which she replied with a smile "No thanks, I'm just fat".
- TeMPOraL 10y agoAnd I thought it's nerds who are socially awkward... I can't see such things as anything else as trying to use technology to avoid the possibility of embarrassment that comes with dealing with other people.
- frobozz 10y agoThis is what I do, and it wins for all sorts of reasons, not just the avoidance of mistaking flab for a foetus. If you are doing this, the likelihood is that there is someone more in need of a seat than you, and possibly for invisible reasons (e.g. carrying a minor leg injury, first trimester of pregnancy, or just tired). Some people in a certain age range (mid-late 60s) may be grateful for a seat, but don't want to think of themselves as old enough to warrant being offered a seat. The person you think you are getting up for may not want to sit. When my wife was pregnant, she was inundated with offers of seats. She often refused, because on shorter journeys, the effort involved in sitting down and standing up again was greater than that of just standing all the way.
- jeffwass 10y agoAgreed. Especially that they're charging £3.99 for it. I'm also surprised to see this on BBC of all places, since Transport for London specifically makes "Baby on Board" buttons for pregnant women to wear to make it more obvious for commuters. https://tfl.gov.uk/forms/23479.aspx https://tfl.gov.uk/forms/23479.aspx I think some commuters might be just oblivious to the need some of pregnant and elderly folks, without actually trying to intentionally deny them a seat. I feel that raising awareness instead of reverting to an app, is a better long-term approach. When my wife was pregnant (this was in London) she would specifically ask people if she could have their seat. Nobody ever refused, nor did they even appear annoyed. Even in very crowded carriages.
- Tharre 10y agoThe last time I tried to offer my seat to a obviously pregnant women she responded with: "No thanks, I'm pregnant, not a cripple.". So yeah it's complicated sometimes ...
- cs02rm0 10y agoYeah, my wife's said similar to me in the past. Of course, you can't argue when they're pregnant. My wife's 8 months pregnant with twins at the moment; I think she's probably at the point of admitting defeat but she's so enormous now people dive off their seats from a mile away anyway. Not a hope in hell of getting her to pay £4 for this, or of anyone in a seat having the app I'd imagine either.
- yomly 10y agoI think the rationale is not that a woman can't stand when she's pregnant but that in sitting lowers risk for an accident - e.g. the train suddenly stopping unexpectedly or even people just having more people bunched around you when standing. When sitting, you have a more defined space around you and people tend to stand further away from people who are sitting.
- balls187 10y agoNot really complicated. Just sounds like she is a shitty human being.
- balls187 10y agoBlame the parents who never bothered to teach their children how to properly behave in society. "Why should I have to give up my seat to someone just because they didn't use birth control?"
- TallGuyShort 10y agoThe detail you and a lot of other respondents seem to be missing is that they actually did do research (at least it sounds like they ran some focus groups), and one of the things they discovered is that pregnant women were feeling the most ill and in need of a seat the most were early in their pregnancy and not showing yet. I'm sure many would feel uncomfortable asking someone to move for them, so having an established non-confrontational mechanism could help. On the other hand, I would echo many of the sentiments in this thread - I make it a point to stand unless there are many empty seats, but I've also been spontaneously engaged for an argument by a women who was insulted that I stood after she boarded the train. So I often just stand the whole time to avoid it all.
- mulrian 10y agoI don't get it. The whole concept only works if there are people who have deliberately installed the free version so that they actually get the notifications. Seems like a whole lot of work and £3.99 for a very small chance of anyone actually noticing. If you're pregnant and want my seat then just ask me - I'll always happily give it up.
- spacec0wb0y 10y agoExactly, there are a lot of requirements for this to succeed, both having the app installed, bluetooth on, location services on (does it work on the tube?) and being within a short distance of each other. I think the money spent creating this app would have been more useful going straight to the charity. Pregnant women may well pay for the app, but I think the only reason others would pay that much, for an app that will probably never actually alert them, would be to donate money to charity.
- onion2k 10y agoI don't think it's reasonable to assume that the company behind this app did no research into the problem. It's possible that they didn't, but it's also possible that they asked pregnant women what problems they faced and discovered that actually getting a seat by asking people doesn't work as often as we'd like to think. That would be a really interesting discovery - on the face of it the problem shouldn't exist, but maybe it actually does, and it's a big problem. Maybe women have found they've asked people and been verbally abused in response, so they're reticent about asking again in the future. The lesson here for me, as a man who will never face the problem of not finding a seat when I'm pregnant, is that there are huge problem spaces that I have no insight in to. This is an minimum viable product for a problem that I don't understand or have knowledge of. It won't work in every situation, and there are some huge problems to resolve in getting enough traction for it to be genuinely useful, but if this problem exists (and I'm willing to accept that it does) then I see this as a positive step forwards.
- problems 10y agoI doubt you have absolutely no insight into it - you've probably given up your seat a few times. I have at least, and usually without a single word being spoken. I've witnessed it and done it dozens of times, yet I've never seen anyone get belligerent about it.
- mosselman 10y agoMy pregnant wife has a similar app, it is called 'her mouth'. It is revolutionary: you go up to people and you simply state 'Hello, I am sorry, would you mind letting me sit here? I am pregnant.'
- kome 10y agowhat's her business plan? how will she monetize?
- robjan 10y agoMore to the point, how will she integrate this with the latest NoSQL GraphQL SaaS written in Go lang?
- devoply 10y agoGotta use Docker with Kubernets to deploy that, it's web scale.
- test1235 10y agoWhat industry is she trying disrupt? Who are the early adopters? How many months to series A or angel investment, or will this be a crowdfunded innovation? Are we aiming for a possible unicorn/narwhal/decacorn here?
- Waterluvian 10y agoHow will she ever fit into silicon valley culture without all these things ?!
- Dowwie 10y agoSocial decency apps? Has the whole world gone crazy!?
- roesel 10y agoI read "New seat alert app for pregnant computers" and was disapointed after following the link. Such clickbait. So wow. (Also, I don't get why you'd spend 4 pounds and hope for other people who are not pregnant to have done so as well, even though the same can be achieved by speaking. Not everything needs an app.)
- miguelrochefort 10y agoEvery time a new app is released, I die a little inside. There are too many, this is crazy. Does anyone truly believe this model can scale? This app is a perfect example.
- swingbridge 10y agoThis seems like technology in search of a problem, and they've chosen a problem that already has a solution--just ask. God forbid we speak to each other.
- nns 10y agoIn London, Transport for London (TFL), who run the Underground Network (and some other train lines), already provide a 'Baby on Board' batch: https://tfl.gov.uk/forms/23479.aspx https://tfl.gov.uk/forms/23479.aspx
- donmatito 10y agoI like how everybody here would of course, no problem, don't-even-ask give their seat to pregnant women. And then when pregnant women ask for seats out of exhaustion and embarassment, they hear "no, that's my seat", and it's the elderly lady two rows farther who gets up.
- mtw 10y agoI'm not sure it will work. Did the BBC even test the app? A few pregnant women might know about the app, but the rest of passenger in a bus or on a subway won't likely have it. Or they have it because they are pregnant.
- noja 10y agoThe kind of person who will install this app (as a non-pregnant person) is the kind of person who will give up their seat without being asked. Edit: having said that, if they are looking at their phone or reading then maybe this app would work.
- gaius 10y agoGiving profits to charity... It would be good to know what that actually is, it could be 1p per download when the accountants are done. The article has conflicting claims in it!
- stpe 10y agoYou could discuss the viability of how and if the app would work in a real setting. But maybe the app already set out to do what it was meant to do - to raise awareness about pregnant commuters (check - they got covered by the BBC), or (cynical, but more realistic) - the innovation agency got to show off how innovative they are and can use some nice "featured by the BBC" in their marketing communication.
- dcre 10y agoThe fact that a human reporter can write this article without including a single note of skepticism is truly sad.
- richieb 10y agoYou need an app to give your seat up to a pregnant woman?! WTF? What happened to manners?
- ljk 10y agotoo passive-aggressive for my taste
- zerohm 10y agoThis app is just a fine publicity gimmick on the part of the developers. This happens a lot! Will get loads of news stories, Facebook shares and likes but make not a joy of difference to anything.