Martin Lindstrom:
But should we really characterize the intense consumer devotion to the iPhone as an addiction? A recent experiment that I carried out using neuroimaging technology suggests that drug-related terms like “addiction” and “fix” aren’t as scientifically accurate as a word we use to describe our most cherished personal relationships. That word is “love.”
via Patrick Rhone
Mike Snider, USA TODAY:
Nearly one-third (32%) of the heaviest adopters of social networks — those ages 18 to 24— connect with sites such as Facebook and Twitter in the bathroom. The new data, from NM Incite, offer a glimpse into the growing devotion that Americans have to social networks.
Time spent on social networks increased 37% over 12 months ago, according to the new report out today.
To be honest, I really miss having an iPhone when I go to the bathroom.
In an interview with Om Malik:
I am over laptops and the posture that comes with them. I am coding a lot less, so I use my computers a lot less. I still want to simplify even further and carry just one device. So, I want to try the iPad Mini with cellular antenna as my only device and as a phone replacement, and use Skype and/or Google Voice instead.
I listen to a lot of podcasts, mainly in my car, or while riding my bike. While Instacast HD is awesome, using my iPad mini in either of these locations is not.
After digging out an old HP-branded iPod, I discovered it’s clickwheel had gone to the great parts bin in the sky.
So, after ridiculing the iPod nano on my podcast, this weekend, I bought a black one. (The other models, with their bright backs and white glass look ridiculous to me. At least with the black mode, the glass kinda fades in to the metal when you aren’t staring at it.)
Stephen, much like Paul Miller, is attempting to explore the technological trajectory we’ve collectively chosen to follow from an intensely personal perspective. And yet, much unlike Paul Miller, Stephen has sustained his ties to the technology he relies upon for the sake of realism. […] I suspect that, regardless of the negativity swirling around his experiment, Stephen’s findings will ultimately prove to be valuable to even the most staunch of his opponents. And, irrespective of how long the experiment lasts, I applaud Stephen for taking the bold step to challenge one of the most accepted and self-reliant elements of his day-to-day life.
Ben Brooks:
There is no doubt in my mind that we, as a society, need to get our heads out of our phones, however getting rid of portable computing isn’t the solution. The solution is finding what is addicting you and limiting that.
Ben’s right, and his solution is what I’m doing. I’m addicted to my smartphone, and I need to set it aside for a bit. I could do this by getting rid of apps, or making the choice to not open, but I want to force the issue, so to speak.
Next week, I’m turning off my iPhone for a year.
Ok, that was a dramatic lede. Forgive me. In reality, I’m giving my almost-new iPhone 5 to my lovely wife — trading it in for a Motorola W385.
And no, that’s not another forgettable Android phone from Moto. It’s a flip phone. You know, the kind with physical buttons and stuff.
Longtime readers will know that I’ve done this once before. Here’s what I wrote back in 2010:
Robin Sloan:
For me, the iPhone had become a toxic compulsion. It had completed its invasion and occupation of my interstitial time — all those minutes riding the train, waiting in line, that used to be such fertile territory for daydreaming and storymaking. So I canceled my AT&T plan and switched to a bare-bones Nokia on a pay-as-you-go plan.
And sure enough: in the months since the liberation of my interstitial time, I’ve been daydreaming more, jotting down scraps of stories again.
Nathan Swartzendruber, on the aforementioned NYT piece:
It’s sweet, in a way. We should want to be together enough that we’re worried we’ll miss each other. Either by not showing up at the right place at the right time, or by being so distracted by our pocket computers that we don’t recognize who’s with us. But are we really so incapable of putting our phones away that we need a hurricane to do it for us?
Jenna Wortham with The New York Times:
While Hurricane Sandy left hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers without electricity or heat, the loss of one utility left some especially bewildered: cellphone service.
“Not having hot water is one thing,” said Kartik Sankar, 29, a technology consultant who lives in the East Village. “But not having a phone? Forget about it.”
The whole article is interesting. This paragraph sums it up nicely:
