I was lucky enough to be working in the wireless industry at the dawn of the Smart Phone. Many people credit Apple and Google for the Smart Phone but it actually goes back much further. BlackBerry delivered the first “always on” email device back in the early 2000s. It was the basis for what we call the Smart Phone today.
I admit when I got my first BlackBerry I was excited. Email without a computer! This is truly great.
It wasn’t long though before the negatives started to show through. Email could now find you anywhere, at any time. It was super easy to fire off a quick reply. Just one… Then back to what I was doing. It wasn’t long before I realized I was spending much of my off hours working and so were my coworkers. “Oh well” I said to myself. “That’s modern corporate life.”
Fast forward to 2018. BlackBerry is a shell of it’s former self. The smartphone is flourishing though. Smart Phones make up about 98% of the market and in most households everyone in the family has one.
Text messaging and chat have replaced email as the default means of communication. They are less formal and more direct so it makes sense. Revenue from text and chat generates billions of dollars for cellular providers worldwide.
A few years back experts began to talk about “addiction” to our phones. When I first heard it I didn’t want to believe it. How could we be addicted to technology? To a device that helps us communicate?
Then I started to look around. Seeing couples in restaurants that never looked up from their phones for an entire meal. People dropping their cell phones in “strange” places because they were checking their messages.
Then I started to hear about texting while driving. This is a tough one. I was involved in a car accident where I was stopped and then hit broadside because both individuals in the car were texting and claimed not to see the side of my bright white car before they rolled into it in a parking lot.
I was lucky. But others are not. The number of injuries and deaths from texting and driving continues to rise. People just don’t seem to be getting the message about how dangerous this is. In Ontario the fine for distracted driving is $1,000, three demerit points and a three day license suspension for the first offence.
Unbelievably I still see multiple drivers per week driving with their phone in hand. Even the threat of those stiff fines does not deter the behavior.
To me there is no doubt people are addicted to their phones. It seems more researchers agree with that assertion as well.
Some of the things that explain smartphone addiction are easy.
They connect us together in so many ways. Friends and family are never more then a text message away. Across the world or across the room you can be connected in a few taps.
Some things are more difficult to explain and a little more nefarious too. App designers are using the same techniques that Vegas casino operators use to keep slot players pumping in money for hours on end.
The tones an app plays when you get a notification, the little numbered indicator you get when you have a new message. All of this is designed to make you crave that interaction. Some people cannot bear to delay that gratification even for a moment or two. This is what leads to activities like texting and driving as we discussed above.
Starting with iOS 12 Apple has added tools for monitoring your usage habits and letting you know how much time you are spending on your phone or tablet. In earlier versions of iOS they added features that prevent you from receiving notifications while you are driving.
These items are not enabled by default but if I was a parent of a teenager, especially one that is starting to drive soon, I would look into these features and enable them for my kids.
One last thing from someone who shares a passion for technology and driving alike. Please don’t text and drive. The phone can wait.
NoShade's 