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Battery icons shape perceptions of time and space

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Re: Battery icons shape perceptions of time and space

#31

Post by svachalek »

Jeff_Brown wrote: post #5

Data point of one, but I cannot relate to this in the slightest. My Android phone is two years old and I never even check the battery. I don't even charge it at work -- but if that became a problem, I would. Seems like an easy problem to solve. And who in the world measures their commute in batteries? Ten miles will stay ten miles; half a battery could mean very different things from one day to the next. (The phone i…

Yeah, something about the way they use "people" as if it describes absolutely everyone is off, as practically everyone I know (1) considers their phone a necessity and (2) keeps it charged because 1. There's always weird situations like when your kid unplugged your charger etc. etc. but thinking of life entirely in terms of battery anxiety is not something I can relate to.

Re: Battery icons shape perceptions of time and space

#32

Post by erichurkman »

colechristensen wrote: post #30
umvi wrote: post #23

> People no longer think about their destination being 10 km away or 10 stops on the tube. They think about it being 50 per cent of their battery away," said the study's lead author, Dr. Thomas Robinson. Are people really like this? If so, I think we need to pump the brakes on phone usage for children because this is out of control. People are literally slaves to their phone. Imagine the absurdity of a 1960s equivale…

Growing up in Iowa (wide spaces, no traffic) my primary unit of distance was and still is living far away from home, time. Everywhere I would want to go would be 5,15,30,45,60 and further increments of 30 minutes after that.

Same for me growing up. The weird thing has been my time in NYC with mass transit. In my earlier days, driving 30 minutes to go to a specific restaurant in another town felt like such a lift.

Now? 30 minutes on the Subway, even standing room only seems normal, even though I've only gone a handful of miles, not 30 miles.

Re: Battery icons shape perceptions of time and space

#33

Post by Jeff_Brown »

partyboat1586 wrote: post #10
Jeff_Brown wrote: post #5

Data point of one, but I cannot relate to this in the slightest. My Android phone is two years old and I never even check the battery. I don't even charge it at work -- but if that became a problem, I would. Seems like an easy problem to solve. And who in the world measures their commute in batteries? Ten miles will stay ten miles; half a battery could mean very different things from one day to the next. (The phone i…

Do you by any chance also pack light for trips? Have fairly empty pockets? Genuinely interested.

What a surprising question. Why?

I always have a wallet, keys (in a coinpurse which sometimes has coins too) and a phone, and very rarely anything else. Sometimes I pack light, sometimes heavy -- enough so that I've been made fun of for both.

I carry a backpack around a lot, full mostly of a laptop, umbrella and jacket. Bogotá rains a lot.

Re: Battery icons shape perceptions of time and space

#34

Post by PavlovsCat »

The "social norm of being connected"? Hmm. I seriously doubt the bandwidth of emojis and oneliners, so to me that's like looking down on someone for not having 10 watches drawn with marker on each arm, because they obviously don't care about punctuality or even space time itself.

I suspect they asked mostly mobile users, maybe even a subset of that, because from my experience either this study isn't relevant to my neck of the woods, or people are so taken aback and scared by this person from the wilderness reading a book, that they instantly become fantastic at acting as if they don't care at all.

Re: Battery icons shape perceptions of time and space

#35

Post by PhasmaFelis »

Animats wrote: post #24

"We found that people who let their phones batteries run out are viewed by others as out of touch with the social norm of being connected and therefore unable to be competent members of society. Phones have become such a nexus for everything that we are that an inability to effectively manage battery life becomes symbolic of an inability to manage life." Scary. I just have a Caterpillar Tractor phone with 3 days of b…

How are you liking it? I wanna get a new phone soon, and I'm torn between a Pixel 3a and one of the Cat phones.

Re: Battery icons shape perceptions of time and space

#36

Post by munchbunny »

umvi wrote: post #23

> People no longer think about their destination being 10 km away or 10 stops on the tube. They think about it being 50 per cent of their battery away," said the study's lead author, Dr. Thomas Robinson. Are people really like this? If so, I think we need to pump the brakes on phone usage for children because this is out of control. People are literally slaves to their phone. Imagine the absurdity of a 1960s equivale…

I think there's some truth to this. Back when I was just about to replace my phone, the battery on the previous one would survive about 2 hours of screen usage, so I would start to measure aspects of my day to make sure I don't run out of battery and therefore lose all of the functionality that comes with having a working phone.

I wouldn't go as far as to say that I would start using my battery as a unit of distance or time, but I definitely memorized the battery consumption of my evening commute more precisely than the distance.

Re: Battery icons shape perceptions of time and space

#37

Post by androidAgain »

PhasmaFelis wrote: post #35
Animats wrote: post #24

"We found that people who let their phones batteries run out are viewed by others as out of touch with the social norm of being connected and therefore unable to be competent members of society. Phones have become such a nexus for everything that we are that an inability to effectively manage battery life becomes symbolic of an inability to manage life." Scary. I just have a Caterpillar Tractor phone with 3 days of b…

How are you liking it? I wanna get a new phone soon, and I'm torn between a Pixel 3a and one of the Cat phones.

They're just your typical Android phones. Nothing special. medium resolution touch screen, a little bit of extra heavy plastic on the case. The usual OEM crapware is permanently installed on the device, and sending analytics back to the mothership.

Re: Battery icons shape perceptions of time and space

#39

Post by wongarsu »

gftsantana wrote: post #6

I never carry a charger for my phone or laptop unless I plan to spend more than a day out (I had to with my old laptop, though). I actually feel a little frustrated when my phone's battery lasts less than 48 hours, because it means I'm using my smartphone much more than necessary. I don't try to limit my phone use, but I do take some measures that probably help to save battery: screen rotation and bluetooth are alway…

> I never carry a charger for my phone or laptop unless I plan to spend more than a day out

Me neither, but a different reason: my laptop battery lasts 6 hours or so, and for my phone I just carry a tiny USB cable to charge my phone from my laptop. I'm already carrying around this 97Whr battery in my laptop, might as well use it to charge my phone.

Re: Battery icons shape perceptions of time and space

#40

Post by wongarsu »

standardUser wrote: post #14
aeternum wrote: post #2

>Anything less than half full, however, induced feelings of profound anxiety and discomfort," he said. I wonder how much priming they had to do to get that response. Sounds like we can cure the world's anxiety with a $20 battery backup.

I wouldn't call it profound, but a low battery is definitely a source of anxiety. Battery packs do solve the issue, but then you have to carry it around all day. And not forget it, or to charge it, in the first place.

There are also phone cases that include a battery. That would solve all your issues at the price of making the phone a bit thicker.
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