Phones Should Be Like Toothbrushes
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Phones Should Be Like Toothbrushes
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Re: Phones Should Be Like Toothbrushes
#2I get the point, but "like a toothbrush" is a stretch. Dentists think none of us spends enough time with the toothbrush.
Re: Phones Should Be Like Toothbrushes
#3I get the point, but "like a toothbrush" is a stretch. Dentists think none of us spends enough time with the toothbrush.
Well, we've read the article. That was the objective of the metaphor.
Re: Phones Should Be Like Toothbrushes
#4> Your phone does none of these and that’s why it’s a lousy tool at best.
A phone is not a lousy tool, from the perspective of it being a tool it is actually quite effective at what it does.
> People now spend 2.5 hours on their phones, daily. That’s 17.5 hours a week and, unless you work part-time at a call center, that’s way too much.
This is a silly point, in my opinion. It is not the quantity of time spent on a phone that matters but the quality. If I call my grandparents each weekend for 30 minutes is that already reaching my quota for phone usage that day?
I think this article is a rushed thought that should have been polished. The core issue with phones, it seems to me, is not the phone itself but the self-control of humans that overuse it.
I know people who scroll through social media for hours on end, in my opinion that feels like a bad use of your time.
But what stops someone from reading a book? Or connecting with their distant family? Learning math? Keeping track of their life?
_So_ much can be achieved with a phone, we have got to stop treating it like a Devil's implement.
Re: Phones Should Be Like Toothbrushes
#5My phone (iOS) is perennially on Do Not Disturb + let calls through. In my life, calls are super rare, and 99% when they happen I want to know. Everything else can wait until I check my phone. Sure, sometimes I check it often when I'm bored, but when I'm concentrated / in the flow I am never interrupted.
I can't believe most people keep notifications on, and sometimes at full volume. It would drive me crazy.
Re: Phones Should Be Like Toothbrushes
#6> Your toothbrush is the greatest tool of all time. You only use it when you’re supposed to for as long as you need to and then let it go.
I use my phone to play blitz chess online (I'm a chess player; if you play chess, you shouldn't focus exclusively on blitz, but it does have its place eg. to help quickly practice new openings)... to listen to podcasts (for instance when I'm washing the dishes - no dishwasher where I live right now, now that's quite a setback)... or to read articles on Hacker News, for one. Do I need to do any of these? No. Certainly not in the same sense as I need brushing my teeth. But these are my pastimes. I also don't need reading a book, listening to a radio show or going to standup comedy. It's entertainment.
A smartphone is not like a toothbrush, and there's no reason why it should be. Its applications go beyond bare necessities by design.
Re: Phones Should Be Like Toothbrushes
#7> Your phone does none of these and that’s why it’s a lousy tool at best. A phone is not a lousy tool, from the perspective of it being a tool it is actually quite effective at what it does. > People now spend 2.5 hours on their phones, daily. That’s 17.5 hours a week and, unless you work part-time at a call center, that’s way too much. This is a silly point, in my opinion. It is not the quantity of time spent on a p…
> _So_ much can be achieved with a phone, we have got to stop treating it like a Devil's implement.
I agree, that is why it is not the phone that is the devil tool itself, but what's on it. Broadcasting tools like Instagram are the most time consuming and addictive without actual benefits. Using those tools are actually detrimental to mental health [1].
Thus I believe without understanding what makes phone usage harmful to both productivity and mental health, we are bound to fall into the same traps with other technologies.
[1] https://www.salon.com/2019/01/30/a-gold-standard-study-finds...
Re: Phones Should Be Like Toothbrushes
#8My phone (iOS) is perennially on Do Not Disturb + let calls through. In my life, calls are super rare, and 99% when they happen I want to know. Everything else can wait until I check my phone. Sure, sometimes I check it often when I'm bored, but when I'm concentrated / in the flow I am never interrupted. I can't believe most people keep notifications on, and sometimes at full volume. It would drive me crazy.
I'm in pretty much the same camp here. One day I was chatting with a collegue and he asked if he could call me to work out a problem and I realized I had no idea where my phone was, the battery was dead when I found it. I hadn't even used for a few days.
The majority of my time spent looking at my phone is for 2FA , taking a photo, or bored somewhere waiting.
Re: Phones Should Be Like Toothbrushes
#9> People now spend 2.5 hours on their phones, daily. That’s 17.5 hours a week and, unless you work part-time at a call center, that’s way too much.
Says who? "Too much" is not a quantifiable amount. There's a time and a place for everything.
Re: Phones Should Be Like Toothbrushes
#10I get the point, but "like a toothbrush" is a stretch. Dentists think none of us spends enough time with the toothbrush.
I was afraid this world be a "lower cost" or "more disposable" article. Phones need to be the opposite of a toothbrush in that case.
There is no reason a phone should begin to fall apart in two years. Software updates should make old devices faster, not slower. Batteries and cameras should be easily repairable/replaceable when they go bad.
More standardized parts, more open sourced drivers, more UEFI or device tree, more easily setup for 3rd party operating systems.
..and 3rd party systems (Plasma Mobile, Ubuntu Touch and such) would potentially mean more control over data, notifications, privacy, location, battery and efficiency.
So in all cases, not at all like a toothbrush.