Asia's smartphone addiction
bbc.com
bbc.com
I even see the police doing that.
But I would love to see some more in-depth analysis of Asian phone usage. This article gives a lot of numbers which, although interesting, are losing their meaning without a comparison to other parts of the world.
1. Manage my inbox/respond to emails 2. Maps 3. Product/restaurant reviews 4. Read books on the Kindle app 5. Scan HN :)
Of course - everyone is different, so my list is not universal. I agree with you however, that using a phone for input is...less than ideal.
This is a mindblowing thing to hear. You really don't know that people use cellphones to keep in touch with friends?
Did you miss the last 10 years or something?
I have friends all around the world who I don't get to see in person and I want to maintain those friendships through chat and social media bc they are very meaningful to me. I'm constantly on my phone.
Sure a desktop is more convenient, but I'm not at my computer all day. The phone lets you have an ongoing conversation. Without them you'd only be able to talk with people when you're both sitting at a computer.... Or you'd have to send long messages and wait hours to hear back from them; which is less dynamic and engaging.
At the same time it does allow you to have pauses in the conversation, so not only can you take the time to think and for instance write a thoughtful response, but you can also easily do other things in the mean time. You can buy groceries and chat and then stop for a minute when you're at the checkout counter. So it's vastly better than making a phone call
>Did you miss the last 10 years or something?
I guess I did miss the last 10 years then. I am old-fashioned in that regard.
I prefer friends who don't require me to be available 24/7 (unless it's an emergency or something like that). I am happier to interact in 'bursts', that is, exchange thoughts in one intense session, or writing longer messages, rather than the trickling 1-message-per-hour that seems to be so fashionable today. I like to be either part of an interaction, or not. And not in a perpetual conversation that never stops. But hey, to each their own. I know that other people like me exist.
Relationships are naturally intended to go colder as time goes on and people and their priorities change.
"Amusing Ourselves to Death" by Neil Postman seems appropriate here.
The technology is here, so why are companies toying around with smartwatches (a very limited concept, imo, might as well strap a small smartphone on your wrist :-)) instead of making these a reality for everyone:
Never mind that the position and such of the display on Google Glass was not the most useful for real AR applications.
Frankly i think our real problem is not output, but input.
Outside of going lotus with a laptop, inputing anything but the smallest of data amounts is a right pain on the go.
Ok, so _you_ would have bought one. The vast majority? No.
Make it high res, full view AR, nice robust design and actually useful and it will blow up.
First off 7 French natives have told me the minimum is 2 months. 3 work at Nintendo of France. 1 works at a Nuclear Power Plant. 3 are currently working in Japan, 2 in Kyoto, 1 in Tokyo. They might have been wrong but that's what they believe.
Second it doesn't matter if it's 40 days off a year or 25. That's still INFINITELY MORE THAN THE USA which is ZERO and still entirely makes the point that lots more vacation than is typical in the USA is at least something to be considered.
(my one didn't have the speech recognition but had a mouse type device like this http://pc.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/article/980911/ibm_7.jpg)
In some ways it was better than Glass in that it was a full Windows PC. It didn't have internet connectivity though. I'd quite like something like that today. A proper os, high res display that can show stuff in laptop layout, not darn mobile layout, and 4G connectivity. Possibly without a camera to freak out the people you interact with.
Honestly, it works fine. Westerners are way too concerned with safety.
> the majority of those injured and killed in VietNam are vulnerable road users
> road traffic crashes are the leading cause of death for those aged 15 to 29 years.
(PDF) http://www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/road_traffic/c...
Also, anecdotally, I was much less depressed in Vietnam than in Canada/US. You don't realize how oppressive day-to-day life is here until you've lived there. Everything in the west requires 'insurance' and 'licenses' and 'regulation' and there's always someone telling you what to do and how to do it.
I mean, if you give person a computer of any kind without internet access, they'll likely feel just as anxious as not having the device in the first place. This, to me, would suggest that what actually causes the addiction is something these online services provide for people. Be it for example some form of self-expression in form of Facebook status updates. They'll be fine for as long as they get to make the update for example (and perhaps see it go live? As in to check their outside appearance like a person checks the mirror after fixing their clothing, despite knowing the clothing is fine. Just need that feedback for the sake of feedback itself, not for any particular practical reason necessarily).
Why do I make the distinction? Because I've had to deal with something related to the subject matter myself. (Acknowledgement of some form/sort of addiction, which isn't computers themselves (though the addiction-causing behavior is mediated through a computer), or "being online", but something more general because the addiction takes its shape and form for as long as the online service provides the easy "dopamine rush" (in lack of a better term), perhaps to relieve some underlying anxiety?)
Sure, this ain't anything new. The internet, is a source of constant novelty addiction, which keeps the brain stimulated.
Mobile phone is just another medium, that you can carry around all the time and extend that addiction and makes it possible anywhere.