Four decades ago, social scientists conducted an experiment with the elevators in a Canadian university. They added a 16-second delay before the doors closed to see if more people would use the stairs. They did. No surprise there. But what was particularly interesting was that when the elevators returned to normal many people continued to use the stairs, cutting energy costs and raising students’ fitness levels.
What’s more, the elevator trick cut energy usage far more than when the university simply posted messages asking people to take the stairs. Adding tangible friction into our routines, in other words, can sometimes change habits in a beneficial way.
It is an important lesson to ponder as many of us trickle back to offices. During the past 18 months, many of us have experienced an enforced culture shock. Lockdowns have turned our routines upside down and shown we cannot take longstanding rituals for granted.