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Apple needs to tackle the issue of smartphone addiction

wired.co.uk

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Re: Apple needs to tackle the issue of smartphone addiction

#11

Post by rock_hard »

whitepoplar wrote: post #5

I think smartphone use has split into two paths: utility and "discovery." Utilities are the tools we use every day, the tools we want to be stable, fast, and (relatively) unchanging. E.g. sms, maps, browser, phone, camera, email. "Discovery" is all the new, unstable, changing stuff. I think there's an enormous market for a utility smartphone...and it doesn't even have to be a smartphone. Something between an old Noki…

I don't think sms, maps, browser, phone, camera, email are the apps most people use though.

Wikpedia(1) says in the US its actually: Facebook, Facebook Messenger, YoutTube, Google Maps, Google Search, Google Play, Gmail, Instagram, Apple Music and Amazon

For other countries you just have to swap out Messenger for Whatsapp and such...but otherwise its basically the same.

Mind you this includes preinstalled apps!

So I'd say if anything, someone should build a Facebook phone, without all the other crap like phone, email and sms apps :)

(1) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most_popular_smartphon...

Re: Apple needs to tackle the issue of smartphone addiction

#12

Post by cryptoz »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #8
cryptoz wrote: post #3

Tony Fadell says, > I think that manufacturers and app developers need to take on this responsibility, before government regulators decide to step in. Tim Cook recently said, "I think the best regulation is no regulation, is self-regulation". And Tony Fadell expresses a similar idea here. That no regulation is the best idea and that companies should "behave" so that the status quo of no regulation continues. But how…

Just wishful thinking. It's true that best regulation is self-regulation, and it's also true that companies in general are unable to self-regulate. A recently discussed clear example of that is privacy in the EU - the original cookie law was a gentle nudge to encourage the market to self-regulate. The market didn't, so now we have GDPR.

> It's true that best regulation is self-regulation

You take this as a fact, so do the billionare execs at Apple, but it just isn't true. You can define "best" in however way you want to make it true, but any reasonable definition won't let that happen. Best for whom? Best for the billionares? Maybe, but that's not best for the rest of us.

Regulation is important in a healthy capitalistic society. Regulation by government, which is theoretically run by elected representatives, is not a bad thing like you suggest it is. It is a steadying hand that helps a market and a society run stably, rather than run amok with fast-paced greed that outpaces ability to sustain itself.

The best regulation is not regulation that the hundreds of millions of people in the USA are not even allowed to know exists because it is a corporate secret. No, that is not the best regulation. The best regulation is carefully written, sustainable, fair, reasonable regulation written with unbiased industry experts, the population itself, the government itself.

Trusting the most elite, rich class of secretive billionaries in the world to self-regulate is not the "best regulation", not even for them. They will get more money if they just agreed and allowed normal government processes to continue without their lobbying and interference to create a no-regulation environment that wreaks havoc on the rest of society.

Re: Apple needs to tackle the issue of smartphone addiction

#14

Post by giggles_giggles »

ghostbrainalpha wrote: post #7
LeicaLatte wrote: post #4

Legitimizing smartphone addiction is the main reason why Apple will never put a dark mode in iOS. Atleast I hope they don't. It has never been a personal problem (I am carrying my own bunch of bad habits) but I hate watching friends, partners constantly checking their phones in the night.

What do you mean by 'dark mode'? I turned my screen black and white, which supposedly lessens the addictiveness. You can also invert the colors for cool matrix like effect... if you are into 90's Winamp Themes.

Modern Android has a f.lux-like effect where it changes the colors on your screen to be warmer so they don't affect your sleep as much. I assume that's what he means by 'dark mode' (it's 'night mode').

Re: Apple needs to tackle the issue of smartphone addiction

#15

Post by DisruptiveDave »

whitepoplar wrote: post #5

I think smartphone use has split into two paths: utility and "discovery." Utilities are the tools we use every day, the tools we want to be stable, fast, and (relatively) unchanging. E.g. sms, maps, browser, phone, camera, email. "Discovery" is all the new, unstable, changing stuff. I think there's an enormous market for a utility smartphone...and it doesn't even have to be a smartphone. Something between an old Noki…

I used to be obsessed with a "dumb phone" that didn't quite have the utility features you described years ago. I think it was called John's Phone? Loved the idea, but hated the thought of owning two different phones.

Re: Apple needs to tackle the issue of smartphone addiction

#17

Post by olivermarks »

An Apple cash cow is financializing your personal data via a vast sprawling ecosystem http://www.visualcapitalist.com/personal-data-ecosystem/

To pick Up Faddell's analogy, this is like letting big sugar regulate itself. It doesn't and has spent millions pushing red herrings like 'low fat' to protect its profit machine.

In a parallel universe 'How to take on Big Sugar and win' 'Camilla Cavendish, the initiator of the UK’s tax on sugar, says it’s time to start treating it as nicotine' https://www.ft.com/content/6be1a340-3e3d-11e8-b9f9-de94fa33a...

Money is the only language the tech platform barons speak too, despite all the posturing...

Re: Apple needs to tackle the issue of smartphone addiction

#19

Post by bethling »

giggles_giggles wrote: post #14
ghostbrainalpha wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you mean by 'dark mode'? I turned my screen black and white, which supposedly lessens the addictiveness. You can also invert the colors for cool matrix like effect... if you are into 90's Winamp Themes.

Modern Android has a f.lux-like effect where it changes the colors on your screen to be warmer so they don't affect your sleep as much. I assume that's what he means by 'dark mode' (it's 'night mode').

iOS has something similar - called 'Night Shift'. I think he's talking about having a theme that is a dark background rather than a light/white one, though.

Re: Apple needs to tackle the issue of smartphone addiction

#20

Post by TheSoftwareGuy »

dayjah wrote: post #2

In general, I agree strongly with this sentiment: > What does a healthy, moderate digital life look like? I think that manufacturers and app developers need to take on this responsibility, before government regulators decide to step in As a bicyclist and driver I believe one of the best ways to enact this would be add a feature that allows investigators / insurers to answer the question of “whether the device was I u…

I really can’t see a way of implementing this without either invading peoples privacy, violating the 5th amendment, making it useless or a combination of those things.
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