What should we do today?
© Thinkstock

Making Choices Count

“What do you want to do today?”

“Dunno. How about you?”

“We could hang around for a while, then get something to eat.”

“That sounds good. But we do that everyday.”

“We could try that virtual drum app on the iPad.”

“Yeah, I like that one. Awesome rhythms.”

“Or the koi pond app. I love those shimmering fish swimming in the turquoise water. It’s relaxing. Even when I’m calm, though, I like to tap that screen and watch those koi scatter.”

“Bring on the iPads!”

This conversation could be among any group of friends. In fact, however, it’s how I imagine Bonnie, Kyle, and Iris start their day at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in Washington D.C.

They’re orangutans. And, like many others in 13 zoos around the world, they are part of the Apps for Apes program.

Orangutan artist at work
© Orangutan Outreach/Engel

Apps for Apes (sponsored by Orangutan Outreach) offers a variety of technology choices for orangutans to enrich their lives. It’s well known that orangutans are intelligent, but who knew they also have a geek streak?

When I first saw stories about this program, I sensed there were some valuable lessons to be learned. The apps provide a daily dose of mental and physical stimulation and that little dash of spice to keep things interesting. Isn’t that a good idea for all of us?

Oh, I see. A little spice can make us happier.

Hmmm. Life is full of interesting choices.
© Thinkstock

Lively Life Adventures

What else can I learn from my orangutan friends? With a 97% overlap in DNA between orangutans and us humans, I imagine that they have trouble, just like us, deciding what to do each day.

If there are free hours, why not have access to some entertainment, some digital stimulation, some new sights and sounds? Why not enrich life with new adventures?

Oh I see. Everyone’s life can be a little happier by making energizing and creative choices—and that includes the lives of our friends in the primate world.

Variety is Vital

Great ape keepers know how important it is to vary the daily lives of orangutans to keep them from getting bored or depressed. The caregivers provide variety in food, toys, and social interactions—all geared toward a happier life.

Now, they can also add technology—and give the animals a choice of interactive books, cameras, and apps that offer even more variety for stimulation and creative challenge.

Orangutan studies his animal friends
© Orangutan Outreach/Center for Great Apes

Freedom of Choice

The Apps for Apes program puts iPads at the fingertips of these intelligent creatures and gives them freedom of choice to select what appeals to them.

The animals are never forced to play with an iPad. They have to show interest. And they do!

They love painting, playing the piano or xylophone, pounding out a percussive riff on the drums, or just watching koi swim. Take a look in the video below.

If video does not display, watch it here.

They also like looking at themselves (not unlike the most vain of us humans). When Mahal, an orangutan in Milwaukee, first saw himself on camera, he raised his hands and clapped. With all due humility, he gave himself a standing ovation.

Orangutans also like seeing other folks in the animal world. Soon, they’ll be skyping each other from one zoo to the next or friending one another to keep in touch. Can Angry Birds’ competitions be far behind?

Oh, I see. Choosing our own activities frees us to be who we really are.

Kindred Spirits

Every time I watch a video of a great ape or see photographs like those posted here, I feel we are kindred spirits.

And, as with any kindred spirit, there is much to be learned—the vitality of variety, the importance of making creative selections, and the need for freedom of choice.  Going ape for apps is just a plot line. This story is really about making good everyday choices for an adventurous, rewarding, and happier life.

Kindred spirits
© Thinkstock

To support Orangutan Outreach, you can donate an old iPad (or send a check). Orangutans are critically endangered in the wild because of rapid deforestation and the expansion of palm oil plantations into their rainforest home. If nothing is done to protect them, they will be extinct in just a few years. 

VIA Smithsonian’s National Zoo.

Comment on this post below, or inspire insight with your own OIC Moment here.

Are we too plugged in?
© Thinkstock

How Plugged In Are You?

Think about the technology in your everyday life.

• Do you go on dates with your smartphone?
• Do you excuse yourself to go to the restroom and check your email?
• At a coffee shop or airport, do you try to get the seat nearest to the outlet?
• In line, do you immediately pull out your smartphone for something to do?
• Do you think your smartphone makes you smarter?

If you answered “yes” to the last question, then you must disagree with a quote circulating the Internet. Attributed (incorrectly) to Albert Einstein, it states that, when technology surpasses human interaction, there will be a generation of idiots.

A series of photos accompanying the quote show people engaged so intently with their smartphones that it brings up an interesting issue: Are we all too plugged in?

Are our devices a distraction?
© Sheron Long

The Role of the Smartphone

In our house, no smartphones are allowed at the dinner table. Inevitably, though, one of us will run to get a device during the meal because we have to look up an appointment time on iCalendar or we need to Google some question we can’t answer.

We go on walks and tuck our phones in our pockets in case of emergency. But they manage to wiggle out when we wonder what some landmark is, when we want to take a photo, or even when it gets a little too dark and we need a flashlight.

I worry that we have our noses in our devices more than we should.

After all, my smartphone is, to name a few: my appointment book, mailbox, shopping list, library book, flashlight, alarm clock, camera, photo album, audio player, dictionary, encyclopedia set, calculator, newspaper, weather report, oh, and phone.

Wait! Oh, I see. It’s not that it’s bad to be plugged in. It’s just that this little device has taken the place of so many other tools.

There’s just something about doing all of these functions on a small device that doesn’t get as much respect as doing them the “old-fashioned” ways.

When I see someone looking at a smartphone or on the computer, I don’t feel badly about interrupting. But if I saw the same person engrossed in a book, or pouring over a hand-written letter, or writing out a list, I would probably pause before talking. True, we all tend to reach for the devices more readily than we reach for reference tomes, but the intent is the same.

Do the Devices Stop Communication?

Actually, no. Many times, we share photos from them, watch videos together on them, or, during a conversation, look up things we can’t remember. And often we’ll send a quick text to record an idea we would have otherwise forgotten.

There are times the devices seem to be barriers to communication. It’s easy to get caught up in a game and not lift my head for thirty minutes. But I remember doing that with a deck of cards and solitaire, too.

So, I think being plugged in is fine—as long as we use technology in everyday life as a tool and a way to reinforce face-to-face relationships.

And the games? Well, Einstein did have a strong personal opinion about that: “I do not play games . . . . There is not time for it. When I get through with work, I don’t want anything that requires the working of the mind.”

Comment on this post below, or inspire insight with your own OIC Moment here.