Develop devices that can simulate certain kinds of pain for people who would ordinarily not experience them.
These devices can do the following:
Make people more empathetic and understanding of other people's plights
Foster bonding between friends and family members when they better understand each other's pains
Help people, especially children, witness the result of certain actions so they can steer clear of it
Researchers can identify how best way to introduce a type of pain to a part of the body and create a device that can deliver pain to targeted areas of the body. It can be through electronic stimulation, in the case of the period stimulator, squeezing, pricking, etc.
Some of the pains we can develop these devices to emulate include sickle cell crisis, arthritis, amputation, insomnia, and so on.
About a year ago, there was a trend on TikTok where men wore period simulation devices. With these devices, they could experience an inkling of what period cramps and even labor pains feel like. Needless to say, it was not a comfortable sight. The men found the pain debilitating and could not keep up. Here is an online article about it.
Given that experience, I feel confident in projecting that these men would have a better appreciation for the women in their lives when they undergo period pain or give birth.
I came across the TikTok video recently. It started a trail of thoughts in my head. To the best of my knowledge, no matter how imaginative we are, humans cannot really understand a pain they have not experienced. Even worse are unimaginative people who cannot empathize with others because they lack the ability to place themselves in other people's shoes and feel other people's pains.
For example, I know a sickle cell warrior who, because she came to the hospital several times in one week, was told she is lazy by someone who had never experienced a sickle cell crisis in her life.
Do you think such a device will help elevate people's empathy levels? What other kinds of pain would you create such a device for?
Oguntola Tobi Mar 09, 2022
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