iPhone Attention Deficit
Tagged as: Oct 16While there are many advances in mobile technology, there is none more prominent (nowadays anyways) than the Apple iPhone. Subsequent to its release in June 2007, it has made a definite mark on society. It has created huge lines, buzz in media, envy in people’s eyes, and a huge increase in revenue for the companies involved. Despite much hype and doubt, it has been a game-changing device for the smartphone world.
It has a user interface that is the standard to which all others are (now) compared, it is sleek, it is expensive enough to stay out of the hands of the less privileged (like Coach purses for girls), and it has an entire fanatical subculture to support it. There are some people who use it for its useful features, others who just want it so that they can be hip with the times, and others who will probably say that it’s an essential part of their life.
The thing is, I think that we need to help these people. Their iPhones are taking over their lives. Here we thought that Attention-Deficit Disorder (although this has been replaced by Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in psychology as of DSM-IV, but I could not apply the hyperactivity to iPhone users) was something that we could treat. Unfortunately it seems like we are inducing it in people. And while I am talking specifically about the iPhone, the general principle still stands that people are getting worse at maintaining their concentration on tasks at hand. They have instant messaging that they’re always connected to, text messages that encourage deplorable grammar, and the ever annoying Twitter (dumb as far back as 2007), which combines all of these things at one time.
Most people with iPhones seem to have an incessant need to check them. People need to stop this. They need to start living lives that do not involve the Internet. Let us move onward from our digital slavery!
I am slightly amused that I am writing such a thing for a couple of reasons:
- Hello this is a blog, which is an entirely digital medium.
- I am in front of a computer at least 8 hours a day as a software engineer. Usually more like 10, including off hours personal time.
I am not a luddite or anything (heck, I am studying computer science) but I don’t get why people use some of these electronic gadgets. All I need my phone to do is make and receive phone calls. Many of the other extra features are not as convenient as their analog counterparts.
For example, keeping a schedule on a PDA is not as fast as using a little pocket planner. To write a note in a PDA you have to get the PDA out of your pocket, turn it on, get out the little stylus thing, swear at your PDA when it does not write what you wanted to write…and so on. Five minutes later, you have an appointment in your PDA. Or…you could take 30 seconds to write it in your little book.
Even text messages are just a silly, unnecessary idea. You can spend 5 minutes typing in your message and pay 10 cents to send it…or you can make a 1 minute phone call for probably the same price.
Hear hear! (Except with Verizon, my wireless carrier, the text messages are twice as much!)
Haha–text messaging is a brilliant business model which I refuse to contribute to the profit of
I’d perhaps use it if it were free, which it should be — or at least free with those with data plans. Texting messaging on a num pad is dumb, but on a qwerty smart phone — not as inconvenient.
Yes, but I specifically chose not to get an iphone for the reason that I am in front of a computer almost all day. All I want my phone to do is be a slim form factor, have great reception (and minimal radiation if thats possible), and clearly and efficiently organized UI for contacts, call history, etc.