LELO Imagines the Future for Sex Toys

While there’s a lot of concern about the negative impacts of technology on our interactions with others, if there’s one technology that brings people together and helps them, um, connect, it’d be sex toys. And, boy, have we seen a lot of great innovations in sex toys in recent years. They’ve moved beyond toys designed for sex (or to mimic sex) to stylish objects that are carefully designed to produce pleasure. It’s a beautiful thing.

Of course, human connection is about so much more than sex. That’s why we’re digging LELO’s recent design campaign, the Undesign Award. Sex toy manufacturers like LELO have led the charge when it comes to designing new toys that bring people together. Now, the company is asking designers and other creative minds to go back and undesign some of the technologies that keep us apart. And it’s challenging designers to put down their smartphones come up with ideas that help promote all sorts of human interaction and intimacy - and not just the kind that ends in orgasm.

Technology isn't going away. Research is showing that our attachment to our devices is affecting our sex lives. It's affecting our relationships, our health, our grammar skills and even our sleep habits. But it isn't all bad, of course. In many cases, technology can bring us together. It just needs to be deisgned (or undesigned) to do so. If you check out the winners of last year's contest, you'll see that some use technology to help people connect, while others encourage connection in spite of technology. Which would you choose?

If you have an idea that you think will encourage togetherness or inspire real human interaction, you have until August 1, 2014, to submit your design to LELO. Oh, and if you win, you’ll get $1,000 cash and $300 worth of LELO products. You don’t have to design a sex toy ... but if you do, we won’t be disappointed. Just sayin’.

Visit http://www.lelo.com/award/ to enter.