The Swiss Army Knife of Life...

[birdguy 3,943]

I was floored by a commercial I saw on television a while ago.  Eye exams on your iPhone.

For 15 dollars an optometrist can give you an eye exam over your eyephone and text you a prescription for glasses.  You prop the iPhone up on a table, stand a few feet away, and an eye chart appears on the screen.  You tell the doctor what the lowest line you can read is and the doctor makes his diagnosis.

It won't be long now before you are issued an iPhone at birth and it stays in the crib with you transmits your vitals as well as your cries to your parents and the pediatrician.

Each day that passes I feel more and more like I am living in a science fiction movie.

Noel

[ThrottleUp 617]

This has been transformational technology in developing countries where they are doing the same - but with any phone (not just tied to iPhone). it has saved peoples vision even. You're right, we live in amazing times. I constantly tell myself to be amazed by the very device we call smartphone which alone is crammed with awesome tech.

https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2015/05/28/409731415/smart-phones-are-so-smart-they-can-now-test-your-vision

[GaryK 201]

I was reading yesterday about a backlash against technology, the "Techlash".

Dumbphones sold 400 million in 2019......in 2021 they sold 1 billion.

Smartphones had global sales of 1.4 billion last year, a drop on the previous year of 12.5%

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-60763168

The tech folk involved in the smartphone industry argue that this is due to changing fashions......yeah right.😉

Trust (lack of it) is the major issue driving this particular trend.

Edited June 6, 2022 by GaryK

[stans 702]

We have become dependent upon smartphones.  I held onto my last flip phone for 19 years.  I was gluing it together shortly before forced by signal changes to trade it in.  Went straight to an iPhone 11.  Hated it at first, now I would not want to be without it and all its features.

[martin-w 3,234]

36 minutes ago, GaryK said:

Dumbphones sold 400 million in 2019......in 2021 they sold 1 billion

 

And how many of those dumb phone owners also own a smart phone? The reason I say that is because smart phones are now quite big and bulky and some would like a small, cheap, light phone for occasions when carrying extra weight is a negative.  I include myself in that category.

The other point is that smart phone sales have been hit by component shortages and supply chain disruption which may have served to increase dumb phone sales.

Clearly there is more to this than people having the urge to go "low tech". Smart phones are getting more and more expensive perhaps nudging SOME users toward less smart cheaper phones. Lots of critical stuff is on our phones these days, so may be that some want a device with less sensitive stuff on it for vulnerable situations.  

The other point is that what we call "dumb" phones these days aren't what we used to refer to a dumb phones, they are actually quite capable.

So yes, there may have been an increase in the sale of less advanced phones for a number of reasons... but the sale of smart phones still totally dominates the market.

Edited June 6, 2022 by martin-w

[GaryK 201]

13 minutes ago, martin-w said:

 

And how many of those dumb phone owners also own a smart phone? The reason I say that is because smart phones are now quite big and bulky and some would like a small, cheap, light phone for occasions when carrying extra weight is a negative.  I include myself in that category.

The other point is that smart phone sales have been hit by component shortages and supply chain disruption which may have served to increase dumb phone sales.

Clearly there is more to this than people having the urge to go "low tech". Smart phones are getting more and more expensive perhaps nudging SOME users toward less smart cheaper phones. Lots of critical stuff is on our phones these days, so may be that some want a device with less sensitive stuff on it for vulnerable situations.  

The other point is that what we call "dumb" phones these days aren't what we used to refer to a dumb phones, they are actually quite capable.

So yes, there may have been an increase in the sale of less advanced phones for a number of reasons... but the sale of smart phones still totally dominates the market.

Indeed, there may be other factors involved.

.....and 

There is also a general backlash against technology happening.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/dec/28/tech-industry-year-in-review-facebook-google-amazon

Edited June 6, 2022 by GaryK

[martin-w 3,234]

2 hours ago, GaryK said:

There is also a general backlash against technology happening

 

Looks like its due to legislation, privacy and stuff according to your link, rather than Luddite's breading like flies.   😁 So not really a backlash against "technology happening".

Edited June 6, 2022 by martin-w

[GaryK 201]

1 hour ago, martin-w said:

 

Looks like its due to legislation, privacy and stuff according to your link, rather than Luddite's breading like flies.   😁 So not really a backlash against "technology happening".

yep,....it's what's commonly called a backlash........in this case caused by a mistrust of those that pull the strings in technology ........which manifests itself through technology............a mistrust of tech  brought about by perceived dodgy practices that tech has now made possible.

I didn't mention luddites?

I agree with you if you are saying it's irrational but it's still happening.

If you don't like the over generalised labels that the media are using then I agree but it's still happening.

All I can say is that in general levels of trust with the general public are generally decreasing from what was generally considered the norm......in a general sense that is. Generally speaking a lack of trust manifests itself in the general public as a backing away from that that they mistrust.......in this case tech..........generally I agree with you that perhaps the general public might generally benefit from being more generally specific in identifying exactly what it is  they generally mistrust but as those that pull the strings in or using tech are generally seen as an amorphous blob it is generally not entirely possible.

😉

Mistrusting tech (or anything) generally because of how it is sometimes used is prejudice....... but that is how humans (you and I included) operate when we don't have enough info to make sense of it any other way.

To answer the OP. 
I use a smart phone but I have serious misgivings about how some of the tech involved is being used.... I weigh up the pros and cons. At the moment the pros outweigh the cons but I can imaging a time when that will not be the case.



 

 

[goates 576]

9 hours ago, birdguy said:

It won't be long now before you are issued an iPhone at birth and it stays in the crib with you transmits your vitals as well as your cries to your parents and the pediatrician.

It won't be the smartphone, but a watch or something else wearable.

https://wccftech.com/apple-watch-ecg-detects-80-year-old-heart-condition-hospital-missed/

https://www.idropnews.com/news/the-apple-watch-ecg-could-help-detect-dangerous-heart-conditions-in-young-cancer-patients/188251/

We're basically watching the birth of the Tricorder from Star Trek.

[birdguy 3,943]

4 hours ago, martin-w said:

Clearly there is more to this than people having the urge to go "low tech".

I have that urge Martin.  I do have an iPhone.  It's several years old.  When I first got it I carried it around with me for a few months and found it to be more of a nuisance and an annoyance.

Now it sits on my desk 24/7.  Sometimes it rings while Betty and I are watching TV.  She says, "Your phone is ringing."  I reply, "If it's important they left a message and I can call back."  Most of the time it's a number I don't recognize so I just delete the call.

I am not going to interrupt whatever I'm dong like watching a movie on TV or flying in my simulator to pick up the phone and listen to someone trying to sell me an after market warrantee for my car or begging for money for some police benefit fund.

I only keep it because I already have it.  But I am tempted to go to a flip-phone.  I have my brother's that was among his things when he died I am tempted to get it activated.

Noel (Luddite First Class)

[Tim_Capps 474]

I have been feeling nostalgia for my Blackberry. Better for actual, you know, communication than my iPhone.

[dmwalker 601]

1 hour ago, birdguy said:

Noel (Luddite First Class)

Hardly. You have two computers, a (big screen?) TV and a hybrid car. You are just being selective about the technology you use, which is sensible. You can't be called a Luddite based on one thing.

[Howellerman 104]

I took the family to dinner last night to celebrate my #1 daughter's graduation with a Doctorate in Psychology (woo-hoo!). 

The restaurant was in Berkeley, California, and it is a big "college town", being host of the University of California, Berkeley. No surprise, there are a log of young-uns out and about, all very adept at using new technology.

But, I have to admit, I was taken aback slightly by the restaurant and how it operates. Your table has a QR code on it which you scan for the menu. The newly download app also allows you to order your food and pay the bill, all without interaction from the restaurant employees. Indeed, they are pretty much "food delivery" workers, and I have a feeling that if robots could navigate the multiple levels of the dining courtyard that robots would have served me my Hefeweizen and artisan pepperoni pizza. 

I just handed my credit card to my #2 daughter and said "you drive". It was not so much due to "resisting technology" as it was I did not feel like being the focal point for everyone's ordering process. However, the future of technology and how we deal with it came into much sharper focus!

[birdguy 3,943]

I have a question for you techies.  In an hour I have an appointment with my renal doctor.  10 days ago I went to the lab and they drew 4 vials of blood and I had to pee in a cup.  Can I pee on my iPhone and have it send the results to my doctor?  Can I word not allowed the end of my finger and smear a drop of blood on my iPhone and have it to a complete blood workup?

I like seeing my regular doctor every three months.  He listens to my heart and lungs with a stethoscope.  He checks my legs for edema.  He thumps my chest and back.  He looks up my nose and into my ears.  

Can an iPhone do all that?

Sorry, but I have more confidence in a real doctor than I do an iPhone.

Noel (Honorary Luddite First Class)

[starstream707 70]

13 hours ago, birdguy said:

I was floored by a commercial I saw on television a while ago.  Eye exams on your iPhone.

For 15 dollars an optometrist can give you an eye exam over your eyephone and text you a prescription for glasses.  You prop the iPhone up on a table, stand a few feet away, and an eye chart appears on the screen.  You tell the doctor what the lowest line you can read is and the doctor makes his diagnosis.

It won't be long now before you are issued an iPhone at birth and it stays in the crib with you transmits your vitals as well as your cries to your parents and the pediatrician.

Each day that passes I feel more and more like I am living in a science fiction movie.

Noel

Let me know when they start doing it with prostate exams.