Play together, share together. How many times have I had to hear that statement as a little girl? Lovely, those children’s quarrels over the smallest things. Quarrelling about who gets to ride the big bike. About who gets to operate the mouse while building a virtual amusement park. Once I even managed to get a classmate to run home screaming with rage when I wouldn’t hand over the kite to her.
As a child, I found nothing more annoying than those four words repeated oh-so-often by grandparents, the babysitter, and my best friend’s mother. A kind of mantra it was. Now, some two decades later, I think: they were absolutely right. I think we can all learn something from this home, garden and kitchen wisdom.
What would the world look like if we shared much more with each other? Our car, our drills and lawnmowers, and even our meals? In our scenario, we all have the Share app, available for free download in the Playstore. The shareable devices have a chip, so we can always find them. For each category, we click on which device or product we want to borrow. On the map, we see where we can pick it up. You can make it as crazy as you want. Some people only tick shared cars, while others share dozens of household appliances, from lawnmowers to irons.
No more cars in the garage
No more having your own car in the garage. It is almost unthinkable for some. Yet it is a solution to numerous problems we face. Because let’s face it, 90% of the time our car is ‘doing nothing’. Much more efficient if the neighbours could just grab it for shopping while you plop down on the couch. We can also scale back car production quite a bit, saving us raw materials and energy. Instead of bearing the full financial burden of buying, insuring and maintaining, people can share the cost.
Bye bye, lawnmower
Of course, we own many more appliances that spend the vast majority of the time neatly waiting to be ‘allowed’ again. I don’t have a garden, not even a balcony, and so, logically, no lawnmower. But I know my father rides on the lawn once a week for an hour at most. Bummer.
That’s a thing of the past with the Deelapp. My father grabs his phone and sees on the map the shared lawn mower in his neighbour’s garden. He clicks ‘unlock’ and off he goes.
A cup of tomato soup
What about that poor head of lettuce in the fridge that seems to be getting sipper by the day? Every year in the Netherlands, we throw away an average of 33 kilos of food per person. Share meals offer a solution. You tick a few options in the app – vegetarian, but gluten is allowed – and before you know it, you’re standing in front of your neighbour’s door at number 33 with your bowl for a nice cup of tomato soup.
In short: it’s okay to share together more often. But this will require a significant change in our way of thinking. For instance, almost half of the Dutch are not willing to give up their own car. For some, it is like a dear family member. Admittedly, I too like the idea of a car being ‘really mine’. Just last year, I proudly and loudly honked my new car into my parents’ path.
Although I also like the idea of arriving in my Peugeot, only to zoom away in the luxurious Audi parked in the path of the woman across the street.
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