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Former iPod Chief Tony Fadell Believes Apple Should Tackle Smartphone Addiction

Absolutely not. People need to start taking self responsibility.

Also is it an addiction if you have to use an mobile phone for practically every task? (old way in brackets)

Pay a bill? Pay by Phone (Post a cheque)
Ask somebody a quick question? Text them (quick call off the landline)
Read the news? News app (Newspaper)
Check your bank balance? Banking app (ATM/Cash Machine)
Need to take a photo? Camera app (Get your camera out)
Got a question about your bill? Phone app (quick call off the landline)
Want to see how active you have been? Activity app (Wear a pedometer )
Want to see your child's progress at school? Load the schools parent app (Call into the school)
Got some pics you want to show people? Photos app (Get the photo album out)
Need to get somewhere? Maps app (get an atlas out)
Have to be up at 6am? Alarm clock app (Set a big clunky alarm clock)
Want to buy something? Amazon app (Go to the shops or boot up a PC at a desk)
Listening to music? Music app (Get the walkman out or use the HiFi)
Car booked in the garage and need a reminder? Calendar app (Calendar on the kitchen wall)
Need to send work a message? Email app (Memo photocopied 100 times and posted in holes)
Feeling horny? Grindr app (Go to a bar and pull)
Pay for something in a shop? Wallet App (get your wallet out and insert a card)
Need some information? Safari app (Go to the library)

Is that addiction? or just the fact compared to 20 years ago we do things very differently and every task uses technology now. Showing how many hours somebody has used their phone wont stop them being anti social.
 
where is it said:
Aren't they already tackling the issue with their boring updates?
Click to expand...
iOS 11 throttled my phone so badly that I all but stopped using it. I'm not kidding. 11.3 unthrottled it, but by now I'm in the habit of not touching my phone. Finally got around to deleting my Facebook too (not because of the recent news; I was going to do it a while ago).

Total screen time is down massively. I pretty much only respond to messages on my computer, leftover from when keyboard lag made it tough on my phone, and it's never been a practical issue so far because the general talking via text messages was never important. E.g. I visit my girlfriend more instead of messaging her, similarly with friends. It's great. I feel way more relaxed.
 
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2ilent8cho said:
Absolutely not. People need to start taking self responsibility.

Also is it an addiction if you have to use an mobile phone for practically every task? (old way in brackets)

Pay a bill? Pay by Phone (Post a cheque)
Ask somebody a quick question? Text them (quick call off the landline)
Read the news? News app (Newspaper)
Check your bank balance? Banking app (ATM/Cash Machine)
Need to take a photo? Camera app (Get your camera out)
Got a question about your bill? Phone app (quick call off the landline)
Want to see how active you have been? Activity app (Wear a pedometer )
Want to see your child's progress at school? Load the schools parent app (Call into the school)
Got some pics you want to show people? Photos app (Get the photo album out)
Need to get somewhere? Maps app (get an atlas out)
Have to be up at 6am? Alarm clock app (Set a big clunky alarm clock)
Want to buy something? Amazon app (Go to the shops or boot up a PC at a desk)
Listening to music? Music app (Get the walkman out or use the HiFi)
Car booked in the garage and need a reminder? Calendar app (Calendar on the kitchen wall)
Need to send work a message? Email app (Memo photocopied 100 times and posted in holes)
Feeling horny? Grindr app (Go to a bar and pull)
Pay for something in a shop? Wallet App (get your wallet out and insert a card)
Need some information? Safari app (Go to the library)

Is that addiction? or just the fact compared to 20 years ago we do things very differently and every task uses technology now. Showing how many hours somebody has used their phone wont stop them being anti social.
Click to expand...
/shrug I don't use my phone for many of those things. News, maps, alarms, music, and calendar/reminders. I'd use it for payments if I lived somewhere like China where that was common. Either way, it adds up to just a few minutes of usage every day, not the hours most people spend.
 
I would love to see an option where I can set a time limit on an iPhone or iPad and once the phone reaches the limit, every feature besides texting, and calling will be blocked until the next day.
 
I like The concept of this, but I don’t ever see this happening. I think everyone varies differently how to use their smart phones and for what purposes. I think its also about being conscious in using moderation not allowing overconsumption of smart phone usage, but it really varies on what somebody is using it for.
 
Perhaps Apple can fit even smaller batteries, then the devices will stop working even sooner, and they will achieve this objective.
"And offer thinner phones"

Win Win ;)
 
I don’t think anything Tony mentioned here is necessary. People need to take responsibility for wasting their own time on social media (or whatever), like they need to take responsibility for eating 3 bags of potato chips in a row with a can of Mountain Dew, before heading to In N Out Burger for the third time in a week/day.

What I think Apple DOES need to tackle is app developers that create apps with the intention of hooking people with addictive personalities. The positive feedback loop knowingly built into all social media is dangerous and will have a negative effect on society as a whole. That is something Apple can and should tackle, in the same way big tobacco was for tweaking cigarettes to be more addictive.

The rest of it is for people to figure out. I learned early in the social media game that social media isn’t really social. It’s people talking AT each other, not TO each other mostly. Projecting, showing off - it’s given everyone the ability to have their own 24/7 reality show of sorts to reinforce the fantasy self image they hold in their heads. In the age of celebrity obsession, the Kardashians, and a Reality TV President is it so surprising this has taken people to the degree it has? People need to admit they love creating false “keeping up with the Joneses” images of themselves to cover up how inadequate they truly feel inside.

I read a story not too long ago about a girl up on charges for shooting her boyfriend in the chest (killing him) while he held a large book over it for a YouTube video. The idea being to do something more extreme to go viral and gain attention. If that doesn’t illustrate that we’ve gone WAY too far down a path no one wants see as dangerous, I don’t know what will. Oh wait, Russia/Facebook/fake news/2016 Presidential Election. But it was all worth it for the likes right?
 
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Addiction is a serious disease and you trivialize it by using the term "iPhone addiction". We may be dependent on our phone in an unhealthy way, but no one is "addicted" to their phones. It's a tool.
 
The feature already exists. Settings -> Battery and you see it in battery usage. Hit the clock, there’s your time. :rolleyes:
 
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Instrumentality said:
Make ALL app notifications set to off by default (badge icon, lock screen, and banners).

Before I went into the notifications center and shut all of this down my phone would be sending me notifications several times a minute between social media apps, message apps, email, and calendar. Its hard not to become addicted when your phone is bombarding you with a constant stream of information. And you don't want to feel like you are missing anything. Not to mention all of the other apps sending notifications for almost no good reason. Now that the notifications are off I have found that I decide when to look at or check my phone, not the apps deciding. Plus I can have my phone face up in a meeting without it lighting up every few seconds.
Click to expand...

I’m pretty sure notifications are off by default and that you have to give the app notification permission whenever you open the app. I don’t know what else you want them to do.
 
JilzVT said:
You can't honestly expect a company to design a way for people to use their product less.
Click to expand...

Well that doesn't mean that they will be used less in the long run.
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Baymowe335 said:
It's not Apple's job to fix smartphone addiction.
Click to expand...
No it's not, but they're best equipped to do it.
2ilent8cho said:
Absolutely not. People need to start taking self responsibility.

Also is it an addiction if you have to use an mobile phone for practically every task? (old way in brackets)

Pay a bill? Pay by Phone (Post a cheque)
Ask somebody a quick question? Text them (quick call off the landline)
Read the news? News app (Newspaper)
Check your bank balance? Banking app (ATM/Cash Machine)
Need to take a photo? Camera app (Get your camera out)
Got a question about your bill? Phone app (quick call off the landline)
Want to see how active you have been? Activity app (Wear a pedometer )
Want to see your child's progress at school? Load the schools parent app (Call into the school)
Got some pics you want to show people? Photos app (Get the photo album out)
Need to get somewhere? Maps app (get an atlas out)
Have to be up at 6am? Alarm clock app (Set a big clunky alarm clock)
Want to buy something? Amazon app (Go to the shops or boot up a PC at a desk)
Listening to music? Music app (Get the walkman out or use the HiFi)
Car booked in the garage and need a reminder? Calendar app (Calendar on the kitchen wall)
Need to send work a message? Email app (Memo photocopied 100 times and posted in holes)
Feeling horny? Grindr app (Go to a bar and pull)
Pay for something in a shop? Wallet App (get your wallet out and insert a card)
Need some information? Safari app (Go to the library)

Is that addiction? or just the fact compared to 20 years ago we do things very differently and every task uses technology now. Showing how many hours somebody has used their phone wont stop them being anti social.
Click to expand...

Question? Spend 3 hours scrolling your Facebook feed.(Some pre-tech realworld equivalent)
Question? Spend 2 hours making selfies for your instagram account. (Some pre-tech realworld equivalent)

I was a teen when social technology was in its roots (we were using IRC for communication over internet) and I just can't find real-world equivalents for the two I mentioned.

Nobody is going to say you're addicted because you use Maps or listen to music...
 
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I don’t think one device supplier can do this on their own. More and more, people experience and interact with their world via their devices. Suppliers compete with each other to be the best device.

So making a broad statement that the general population is addicted to their devices is about as useless as saying people are addicted to their eyes, or their ears, or talking. There may be specific cases of clinical addiction, but an intervention would be the way to deal with those.
 
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