Apple should do more to combat smartphone addiction, insists iPod-Father Tony Fadell

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Comments

  • Reply 21 of 54
    mac_dogmac_dog Posts: 1,069member
    Get therapy. It’ll create jobs. 
    cornchip
  • Reply 22 of 54
    maestro64maestro64 Posts: 5,043member
    I noticed something interesting, I do not use my electronics when I am busy doing something else. I was helping my son work on his struck and not once did I access my electronics, so much so I did activity tracker made it look like I was couch potatoes all weekend. 

    I think most people have too much time on their hands so they have nothing better to do except stare at their electronic screens.
    cornchipwatto_cobra
  • Reply 23 of 54
    Is this an American thing or is the diminished sense of responsibility a world-wide thing now? Honestly asking... do people in Europe hold brewers accountable if they have an accident whist drinking, for example? Is this sort of thing becoming common?

    Just to offer a counter point, its not *diminished* responsibility but *additional* responsibility across multiple parties.

    For example, brewers aren't held responsible but liquor license holders and alcohol servers are held partly responsible if a person is over-served and causes harm.

    But excessive phone use and killing someone are very different.

  • Reply 24 of 54
    bb-15bb-15 Posts: 283member
    Just more Apple bashing. 
    The user has control to monitor their usage. 
    1. Go to Settings, Battery and look down at Battery Usage and one can see how long the device has been on compared with when it was on Standby. 
    2. IOS has built in alarms / timers to notify the user when they are using the device after a certain hour or time. 
    3. 3rd party apps like “Moment - Screen Time Tracker” can monitor iPhone/iPad usage.

    * After trying all those tech options, if the phone/tablet user is still frustrated/concerned with their tech habits, they can set up a support group or go to individual therapy. 

    * Any activity can be done too much. The individual is ultimately responsible to work on changing themselves. 
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 25 of 54
    This is complete crap.  A guy makes a lot of money and all of the sudden he is the authority on moral obligation.  If someone wants to waste their time looking at their phone all day then so be it.  Actually maybe I should open a phone addict recovery clinic...could make some real coin.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 26 of 54
    FolioFolio Posts: 698member
    Yeah Good point B.B. Also Apple’s promotion of fitness with watch and phone; its AirPod, it’s university, etc are other positive things to get heads up, people outside, activate brains and so on Tech hardly neutral. This topic might be fodder for another piece in AI series. ;-)
    bb-15watto_cobra
  • Reply 27 of 54
    sflocalsflocal Posts: 6,092member
    Anyone having "addiction" issues with their phone is no one's fault but THEIR OWN.   I'm so fed up with adult-child whiners that feel their issues are always someone else's fault.

    Take responsibility for your situation.  Don't blame Apple or anyone else.  You need help, get it.  To my knowledge, every smartphone and electronic device has what's called an OFF BUTTON.  Use it.

    If your kids are addicted to it, it's bad parenting.  Take it away.  

    Jeez... fingers just have to be pointed to someone else.
    bb-15watto_cobra
  • Reply 28 of 54
    This proposal is fine, but the time may not be now. Apple has been seeding the tools for users to get healthy. The screen can dim at night to reduce blue light. Apple Watch encourages fitness. Meditation apps have completely run away with the awards and features in the App Store. And with AirPods and HomePod, we're moving away from screens gradually. The most logical timing for a feature like this is after these trends have had a bit more time to take hold.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 29 of 54
    KuyangkohKuyangkoh Posts: 838member
    Seriously Tony? Iphone is not even the largest market share in the world, so go pound sand somewhere else like Androids phone perhaps
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 30 of 54
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member
    mavemufc said:
    Never understood this argument, what can Apple actually do?
    For one, they could talk about it. Assuming, you know, ‘leave the world better than we’ve found it’ isn’t just a marketing catchphrase, but means something. They could also provide patents with tools to combat the problem by managing access to the apps their kids use. They, Apple, could research smartphone usage to learn what kinds of use and how much use boarders on the unhealthy and provide their customers advice based on what they’ve learned. They could even provide tailored advice based on cicumstance. 
    edited April 2018 muthuk_vanalingam
  • Reply 31 of 54
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member
    tylersdad said:
    Perhaps a psychological evaluation should be required before a person is allowed to purchase a smartphone to make sure that person doesn't have a predisposition toward addiction. 
    Everyone is addicted to something.
  • Reply 32 of 54
    nunzynunzy Posts: 662member
    Nobody cares what he thinks. Not anymore.


    watto_cobra
  • Reply 33 of 54
    anton zuykovanton zuykov Posts: 1,056member
    The term “couch potato” was around long before smartphones were a thing and I don’t remember calls for TVs to tell people how long they had been sitting in front of one.
    You see, when that term was around, a concept of a personal responsibility was still a thing....But not anymore!
    Now, it is a must to blame anything and everything (but not yourself) for your shortcomings.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 34 of 54
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    ireland said:
    Everyone is addicted to something.
    “Ah, man, it’s really bad, doc. My skin’s peelin’, my mouth’s all dry… I need that dihydrous monoxide, man. Gimmie that elixir.”
    *gets handed a bottle of water*
    That’s the stuff.”
    *drinks*
    “The crap is this?! It tastes like HFCS! You cuttin’ it with corn syrup, man?! You try’n’a bloat me?!”
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 35 of 54
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member
    Sure he's concerned... He's concerned the iPhone is so popular!
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 36 of 54
    atomic101atomic101 Posts: 131member
    I'm surprised everyone here is so defensive that they miss the point of the message. I'm completely on board with the premise of personal responsibility, and I don't believe Apple is the only company that should be looking into it.  However, knowledge is power, and arming consumers with relevant information in a convenient format will help  their role with the personal responsibility bit.

    The healthy eating analogy is somewhat appropriate, as even the most well meaning individuals will fail if not given proper tools to track and measure their eating/activity habits.  The success of nutrition and fitness apps is testimant to this. Why then would it be wrong to ask for some assistance in measuring smartphone consumption/useage?  I'd venture to guess that many of us would be surprised at our usage habits, and that might be enough of a nudge to force a change. 

    While I wouldn't go as far as accusing Apple of "not doing enough", I would definitely encourage them to provide this data to consumers in a more digestible format (not buried in a battery setting).  Apple has great influence in the Smartphone space.... Why wait for a competitor to lead before following suit?
    irelandmuthuk_vanalingam
  • Reply 37 of 54
    fastasleepfastasleep Posts: 6,408member
    Cool, I’ll go back to staring at my Mac for 12 hours a day. At least those are mobile now too. 
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 38 of 54
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member
    atomic101 said:
    I'm surprised everyone here is so defensive that they miss the point of the message. I'm completely on board with the premise of personal responsibility, and I don't believe Apple is the only company that should be looking into it. However, knowledge is power, and arming consumers with relevant information in a convenient format will help their role with the personal responsibility bit.
    People around here live on their devices. They aren't going to want to admit to their addiction ;-)

    Educating people is the least of what Apple should be doing about this. Time well spent is a real thing, not just a buzz term. If I was running Apple I'd be concerned about some of the negative aspects of smartphone popularity and the well being of my users. If we live in a world where everyone is staring at their phone the whole time while others around them stare at theirs, we certainly lose a vital part of what it means to be human. Human touch, genuine human connection, cannot be had through the internet in a way you get from another person in the flesh. You can have all the knowledge and information you like, without having the necessary wisdom and experience and understanding. Same goes for connection. There's a reason why suicide is as high as it has ever been right now when the world is apparently more connected than it has ever been.

    Another thing I've seen a lot is teenagers needing to pull out their phones because they cannot stand being uncomfortable—I think it's a symptom of them not being comfortable in themselves and with real communication. It does make one wonder where this goes taken to the extreme. People around here are been foolish to dismiss Fadell for this. It's a global and societal issue and he is one of many people bringing our attention to this. It's a crucial and important societal issue that needs to be talked about and one we need to be concerned about.
    edited April 2018 tallest skil
  • Reply 39 of 54
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member
    atomic101 said:
    The healthy eating analogy is somewhat appropriate, as even the most well meaning individuals will fail if not given proper tools to track and measure their eating/activity habits. The success of nutrition and fitness apps is testimant to this.
    Somewhat appropriate, is right. The entire animal kingdom lives successfully without smartphones or health tracking apps. I haven't counted a calorie for years. In terms of eating and diet all you need to do is find what in your life gets you in tune with your body and its needs. Your common sense will take care of the rest. I chuckle to myself when I hear my niece counting her calories. It's the wrong approach from my POV.
    edited April 2018
  • Reply 40 of 54
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    ireland said:
    If we live in a world where everyone is staring at their phone the whole time while others around them stare at theirs, we certainly lose a vital part of what it means to be human. Human touch, genuine human connection, cannot be had through the internet in a way you get from another person in the flesh.
    In before someone posts that retarded black and white picture of everyone on a subway reading the newspaper.
    Another thing I've seen a lot is teenagers needing to pull out their phones because they cannot stand being uncomfortable. It does make one wonder where this goes taken to the extreme.
    The release of dopamine in the brain is tied to a reward system that gives incentive to instinctual elements of the body to chase something. Example: orgasm makes you feel good, therefore you make the effort to seek it through reproduction. Otherwise, we’d end up like pandas. Eating feels good, so you seek food for now and later. Happiness feels good, so you seek things that generate it. In the environment where man was adapted to live before fire was even mastered, this meant that to get that reward you had to apply the effort needed for it. For reaching orgasm, you would need to reproduce and secure offspring. For food, go hunting or create some system like agriculture. In essence, this reward system is just that, reward–or incentive–to accomplish that which would benefit you through other means. Hedonism in itself is maximizing dopamine rush while minimizing effort or sacrifice. It’s no secret that people can gain a tolerance to a dopamine rush after a while. With current technology and social structures that reduce effort to near nonexistent levels compared to “pre”-historic times, people will start chasing it ever harder while the barrier of effort that would make you stop chasing it remains irrelevant. The closest thing in concept is heroin addiction. Therefore, hedonism in this current age is not natural. Hedonism at all is unnatural, as the reward system’s purpose was giving incentive for you to go through the effort required, not skipping it altogether.

    Let’s look at another example. For porn, now the brain thinks you’re an absolute madman, skilled so much that you can have any woman seconds after getting the desire, even though that’s not the case. Sex work is basically a venue for this reward system to be skipped entirely. Just save up a few bucks and you already have the dopamine rush without effort whatsoever. You’ll find that most degenerate societies have a massive amount of sex-related work, most iconic being the Weimar Republic–though this is also affected by a desperate shortage of work and food that makes people sell their bodies, so the issue is even worse because you have people willingly skipping the reward system and others reduced to prostitution due to having no work. Does this mean everyone is innocent? No, some people have no self-control and discipline whatsoever even if they are aware of the situation.

    Hedonism is half-unawareness and half-lack of self control and discipline, because at its core is the unwillingness to face the bad things life throws at you or trying to overcompensate with dopamine rushes. No matter the type of hedonism, you’ll find that a person has gained nothing since step 1 since all he seeks is that temporary rush of happiness. That is, unless the reward system kicks in full force and forces him to become successful to support his hedonism. Bottom line, hedonism has a great amount of arguments against it, and the only argument in favor is just wanting to feel good. You’ll notice how any person in favor of hedonism will take any argument against it as a personal attack subconsciously. That’s because hedonism is an inherently individualistic idea. He doesn’t care about anything but his own happiness and you have become an obstacle to that. By defending others, he is primarily defending himself. If he wasn’t a hedonist, he wouldn’t be defending the others.

    What does hedonism have to do with being raised on a worldview of narcissistic subjectivist individualism within the artificially-created autonomous “culture” propped up solely by brainwashing and debt slavery which causes people to be so psychologically fragile that their daily lives are structured around the primal fear of never feeling any negative emotions whatsoever, no matter how healthy and relevant they are? Oh, and what does it have to do with the endemic use of cell phones? Oh, absolutely nothing. I’m just making it all up. Ignore that almost 30% of survey respondents say they’d rather give up sex than their phone. Don’t mind me, evil old traditionalist Tallest Skil with his “outmoded” ways… I must feel good. I must feel good. I must feel good. No bad thoughts, no bad feelings, no bad words. Colorful candies and cartoons. Laugh, laugh, laugh. Merely thinking about “evil” makes you “host” to that evil, after all; can’t think wrong thoughts…

    Good on you for bringing this up, Ireland. There’re plenty of teetering epidemics like this in society about which people refuse to talk… because they can’t stand to feel uncomfortable, even for a moment.
    atomic101
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