Apple needs to tackle the issue of smartphone addiction • Hacker News Board

Re: Apple needs to tackle the issue of smartphone addiction

#41

Post by hawski » Mon, Apr 16, 2018, 5:10 PM UTC

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').

Where is the setting? I have Nexus 5x and I remember that there was night mode, but it was never exposed in settings. It was only available on 7.0.

Re: Apple needs to tackle the issue of smartphone addiction

#42

Post by perseusprime11 » Mon, Apr 16, 2018, 5:11 PM UTC

If we can hold Facebook accountable for our data, there is no reason why we can't make Apple responsible for our behavior. Apple blames others for addiction, but I think it is time they recognize the damage they are doing to people's minds. In another decade, I am sure there will be sizeable longitudinal survey's pointing to smartphones and people's psychological problems.

Re: Apple needs to tackle the issue of smartphone addiction

#43

Post by j45 » Mon, Apr 16, 2018, 5:13 PM UTC

A tool like RescueTime helps segment one's use of devices and services - it's pretty insightful in terms of measuring one's "Digital Weight"

Re: Apple needs to tackle the issue of smartphone addiction

#44

Post by rock_hard » Mon, Apr 16, 2018, 5:17 PM UTC

kristofferR wrote: post #27

rock_hard wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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'…

That list doesn't include non-downloadable apps. I can guarantee that the browser is more used for googling than the Google Search app, for example.

that would be odd since the list includes Google Play and Apple Music, which are both preinstalled apps.

Maybe you are overestimating how much people use the browser at scale?

Re: Apple needs to tackle the issue of smartphone addiction

#45

Post by cuddlybacon » Mon, Apr 16, 2018, 5:21 PM UTC

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’ve taken to yelling “get of your effing phone” at drivers obviously looking down at devices while I’m driving, walking or cycling around; I think the phone doing that would be more efficient.

My iPhone does do that. If it thinks I'm driving, it makes me tap a button that says "I'm not driving." in order to continue.

Re: Apple needs to tackle the issue of smartphone addiction

#46

Post by mrharrison » Mon, Apr 16, 2018, 5:24 PM UTC

Why are we so eager to blame companies on HN. I wish people would take ownership for their own actions instead of blaming companies. I can't wait for the article, "Take ownership of yourself, stop blaming others".

Re: Apple needs to tackle the issue of smartphone addiction

#47

Post by vinniejames » Mon, Apr 16, 2018, 5:24 PM UTC

DonaldPShimoda wrote: post #26

Something that I don't know if they've mentioned specifically in public was that the Apple Watch was partly designed to deal with smartphone addiction. I don't have a citable source handy here, so it's just my word, but when I interned with Apple last year there were a few "town hall" events where interns could ask questions of senior management (Cook, Ahrendts, Cue, Maestri, etc). At one of them (I think the Tim Coo…

This argument seems to imply the opposite, taking the "addicting" notifications and strapping them to your wrist doesn't exactly reduce the behavior. Most studies show any addicting effect is directly tied to the dopamine release from receiving the notifications. The decreased frequency in unlocking the phone is simply moved to your arm.

Just bought a smart watch over the weekend, I'll keep you posted ;)

Re: Apple needs to tackle the issue of smartphone addiction

#48

Post by dayjah » Mon, Apr 16, 2018, 5:31 PM UTC

cuddlybacon wrote: post #45

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’ve taken to yelling “get of your effing phone” at drivers obviously looking down at devices while I’m driving, walking or cycling around; I think the phone doing that would be more efficient. My iPhone does do that. If it thinks I'm driving, it makes me tap a button that says "I'm not driving." in order to continue.

This can be turned off in settings; I’d be interested in knowing how many of us have done that (I have mine on).

Re: Apple needs to tackle the issue of smartphone addiction

#49

Post by Reedx » Mon, Apr 16, 2018, 5:32 PM UTC

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…

Yeah, company level self-regulation doesn't seem to work very well. But maybe it could be done at an industry level?

Like the game industry did with the ESRB.

Re: Apple needs to tackle the issue of smartphone addiction

#50

Post by timthorn » Mon, Apr 16, 2018, 5:34 PM UTC

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…

Windows Phone hit that spot. Perhaps "luxury device" is pushing it, but as a utility - particularly in the WinPho8 days, before Win10 introduced performance regressions - it was a fantastic platform.