Design Discussion Week 2: Straws

Before listen to the podcast and read the article about the history of drinking straws, I hadn’t put much thought into them before. I always thought of them as a commonly used disposable tool that just about everyone uses when it comes to drinking from sources like movie theaters and fast-food joints that give out disposable cups that have lids that required the use of a straw. I personally have used straws in situation like these but for the most part tend to not use them when the option is available. 

But I had never really thought about what exactly the history of the straw was nor the evolution of its design until listening to the podcast and read the article. Straws have always been a mundane everyday tool that no one really questioned them as such. I was surprised to learn just how far back in human history that straws were used and even more surprised to learn of the origins of the modern “artificial straw” and bendable straws, which make from the inspiration of cigars and the use of a screw respectively. Such a now everyday simple, mundane but effect tool had a lot of designing that went into it, which make me wonder just how much designing goes into other simple and mundane everyday things. 

 Which speaking of such, one product I has had a similar history to drinking straws is the disposable plastic bag. Bags have also been a tool used by ancient humans but eventually evolved to be more user friendly in the form of disposable plastic bag as other bags tended to be less convenient to carry around and less reliable in carrying stuff around. At first, they were exclusively used in Europe but eventually was spread to around the world as supermarkets adopted to use them, to the point of which they have become a mundane part of everyday life for people who do shopping of almost any kind. Nowadays, the environmental hazard provided by disposable plastic bags have been realized and the world is slowly but surely replacing them more environmentally friendly options like reuseable wool bags. In short, drinking straws and disposable plastic bags both have deep histories with humans as tools that met specific needs but eventually evolved into being used by everyone, but have seen efforts in being replaced with more environmentally friendly versions.