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Using Technology To Enforce Good Behavior
Ismellpoop writes "With the new year upon us and resolutions being made to change unwanted behavior, many tools are now available to help people stay in line, such as a GPS-enabled app that locks down texting once a car gets rolling and a program that cuts off credit-card spending. Another device monitors your workout and offers real-time voice feedback. Have we entered an era in which electronics serve as mother, cop and coach because we can't manage our own desires?"
How is this any different than my alarm clock?
Is it my mother because it wakes me?
Have we entered an era in which electronics serve as mother, cop and coach because we can't manage our own desires?
If you're the one setting up these utilities for yourself, then you are managing your own desires.
Have we entered an era in which electronics serve as mother, cop and coach because we can't manage our own desires?"
Poppycock. These technologies aren't for government, aren't for ME keeping YOU from texting; they're tools for helping you help yourself.
Here's one not covered in TFA -- your alarm clock. Don't have the discipline to go to bed early enough to get to work on time? Set this handy little gadget and it will wake you up in the morning, just like your mom used to do.
Free Martian Whores!
I have a device that cuts off credit card spending - scissors.
My BMI is just a little higher than the value my company's insurance policy requires, so I am going to be required to carry a digital pedometer and record a minimum number of steps per month in order to get the same insurance at the same rate that someone who weighs 20 pounds less would get.
http://alternatives.rzero.com/
We can and do manage our behavior, but we also like to have some sort of silver-bullet placebo. It's the only way some people can convince themselves that there will be results for some exertion of effort.
It's particularly bad, though, when we make major purchases under the pretense that we will guilt ourselves into conforming to a regiment or else risk wasting a significant investment. Bikes, gym memberships, new running shoes, etc -- these are all things that most people buy as a means to shift a desire from second level (I want to want to...) to first level (I want to...).
In the end, people just stop using those crutches (for the most part) and recede to prior, bad habits.
We can't! They're automated too!
In one sense, I think the question "Have we entered an era in which electronics serve as mother, cop and coach because we can't manage our own desires?" is flamebait, but, on the other hand, it does pose an interesting question.
First of all, using technology to help humanity - whether it is something major, like producing more/better food, or something minor like making sure we can wake up at the correct time in the morning - is what it is. It's the growth of technology. So, in that respect, nobody is doing anything different than any other person who has had technology...it's just different technology.
However, I find it interesting that the summary posts a question about managing desires. While I know everybody likes to think they are more special than anybody else, and that THEY have no problem managing their desires and wants and needs, all you have to do is pick out any person out of a crowd and there were be SOMETHING that they struggle with. Eating too much. Spending too much. Pornography. Too much time in front of the TV. Overexercising (yes, I know someone who does that). Smoking. Drinking. Whatever. Everybody has something that brings them a great deal of pleasure - so much that they go overboard with it.
So, the question is, is it a bad thing to use this technology that we have at our disposal to get in control of some of our foibles? I would say no. For example, I have a friend who looked at a great deal of pornography. While he enjoyed it, it was greatly affecting his marriage because his wife couldn't live up to the standards he was setting in his mind. In addition, he also neglected his marriage due to his addiction. So, my friend began to use an application on his computer which monitored his web browsing habits. It blocked him where it could, and would email out a weekly email to his wife, myself, and his mother (!!!) regarding websites he visited. When he would screw up, we would be able to call him out on it.
Now, you could say, "Weakling. He should have managed his own impulses." And, I know he wanted to. He knew he was destroying his marriage and didn't want to do that, but, the ease of pornography access was too great for him to resist. He had to control it. Using that application helped a great deal and, after some counseling, he and his wife are happily married. (And, yes, I still receive weekly emails.)
In any case, I think making a statement like, "Have we entered an era in which electronics serve as mother, cop and coach because we can't manage our own desires?" is not only flamebait, it's also seriously judgmental and unrealistic. I do think none of these things should be FORCED on anybody...but there is absolutely no shame in using technology to help control or manage a part of your life that you need help with.
I hate assholes like you. Wile you can feel smug because you shutup the one annoying person, how do you feel about the woman further down trying to connect with her kid, or the doctor trying to manage prescriptions, or the 10 quiet business people just trying to check their email. You fucked up their connections as well. Congratulations, you made the problem even worse by inconveniencing even more people than the original offensive individual.
There's a reason why jammers are illegal, and they are everywhere in the US because they violate FCC regulations.
how about an ap that delivers an electric shock whenever someone uses "like" or "you know" at random places in their speech.
It's like, you know, really irritating when, like, you know, someone constantly stuffs them in, like, you know, multiple times in, like you know, every sentence.
Should really come out as the more satisfying
It's OUCH OUCH really irritating when OUCH OUCH someone constantly stuffs them in OUCH OUCH multiple times in OUCH OUCH every sentence.
Who would win this election: Andrew Weiner vs Andrew Weiner's weiner.
how do you feel about the woman further down trying to connect with her kid, or the doctor trying to manage prescriptions, or the 10 quiet business people just trying to check their email. You fucked up their connections as well.
Not to mention anyone else not on the train but still in range of the signal. Running one of those things on a bus or subway is like setting up a big mobile bubble of "fuck you" for everyone in the city.
As gratifying as it might be to dickishly and anonymously kill their signal, the grown up thing to do would be to simply ask the person to pipe down. If the GP is so socially backwards that he can't even manage that, I humbly suggest that he does not belong on public transportation.
Hint; they aren't legal in the US either. And for a good reason. Doctors have started using cellphones instead of pagers and so you shouldn't be blocking them either. If you want to do that, just go for it and make sure you don't get caught.
=~ s,(.*),<sarcasm>$1</sarcasm>,g if any_point_you_wish();
I understand that driving is a privilege and therefore you give up certain rights when driving. In MA it's illegal to text and drive, don't know how they would actually enforce such a law. I cannot imagine a scenario where it would be illegal for a passenger in a vehicle to do anything with their phone they wanted to. It doesn't sound like this technology is going to differentiate between a driver and a passenger just if the vehicle is moving or not, sounds pretty lame to me!
I don't think technology can fix this it will only frustrate consumers forcing them to go to extra measures to make their devices behave as they want (jailbreaking, etc).
Did you even RTF. . . oh forget it. It's an app for your phone! If you passenger doesn't want it, he wouldn't install the app!
I am not a crackpot.
1. not legal in the USA
2. if I caught you I sure as hell would be involving the authorities.
Yes.
Risky. Some people could take such a request badly, even respond violently, and there is no way to know before asking.
I often bemoan the existence of the "snooze" button. An alarm clock is one thing -- a useful tool that nearly anyone who wants to keep their lives on schedule can make use of. And when it comes to not answering the phone or texting while driving? I have a personal policy against that... but have violated that policy once in a while.
Self discipline is tough. It's worth developing though. I have an alarm on my phone for waking up and another for going to work. It's a system that works for me. I don't use the snooze button though. And if I had an app available to me to disable the phone while driving, I would use it.
I had to learn the hard way... a few times... not to get into "bidding wars" on eBay. Now I just set my max bid and walk away. I do things to discipline myself frequently. I am a very successful dieter! But having reminders and other aids to keep you on track is a choice that can be made and helps those who are not naturally so organized. I am just not! I have forgotten my own birthday on occasions, so how can I be expected to remember anyone else's or to do anything else on time without reminders?
I have tried to strengthen some skills in my life that I have finally given up on. Without tampering with my ability to concentrate and focus on problems, (which is something I don't want to compromise) I just find it impossible to have a "sense of time" at all. So you can appreciate just how much my first blackberry phone changed my life! Suddenly my phone was telling me about everything I needed to do.
One might say "can't you just do it for yourself?" To them, I say "nope! I simply cannot." I have tried and whatever ability others may have, I simply do not possess. And the moment I accepted that fact, the less I hated myself.
Okay, to be clear:
I can diet successfully. I can develop and build all sorts of good habits and learn to resist desires. I can, on most occasions, resist driving while using the phone. But I can't be on time without devices reminding me to be. But because I understand that about myself, I can also see how others can have problems with diet, bad habits, addictions and using the phone while driving. We all have our weaknesses. And when there are devices and techniques to help people overcome these weaknesses, I expect people to want to use them. It is those people who know their weaknesses and choose to do nothing about them that really bother me.
In Oregon it is illegal to use a cell phone while driving, with limited exceptions. The law actually refers to mobile two-way communications devices and thus includes two-way radios, but contains exemptions for amateur radio, CB, and fire/police. It was quite a fight to get a ham exemption into the law, and other federally licensed radio users (like CAP) are screwed.
The law also exempts farmers who are conducting farm business. So, it's ok to be on the phone calling your feed dealer while driving I5 through Portland at rush hour, but not calling your wife to let her know you're stuck in traffic because a moron had an accident while calling his feed dealer...
Oregon made it easy. Cop sees you driving with a phone in your hand (hands-free phoning is legal) , he can pull you over. (The law also makes it a primary offense which means you can be pulled over for doing it, not just ticketed as a result of a stop for something else.)
Damn feel-good fuzzy-warm-feeling think-of-the-children legislators. At least I'm both ham and CAP, so if I'm using my CAP radio I'll just pull out my ham license and get a pass.
So far I haven't had any iPhone apps kick my door in at 4am, shoot my dog, drag me around the house half-naked while pointing guns in my face, make sexual remarks about my startled wife, stand on my chest so I can't breathe even though I'm not resisting, and then drop some coke when they fail to find anything and then admit to having entered the wrong house 10 years later after I'm financially ruined from lawsuits and losing my job.
So no, we haven't entered a time when apps and gadgets are taking the place of cops.
I use a different technology to solve this problem on the commute. Noise canceling headphones.
I figure "since I'm the one with the problem with how you are talking, I will make my problem go away with a flick of the switch and some tunes." It reduces all kinds of noise problems, not just cell phones: train horns and bells, loud and boorish conversations, crying children.
If the offender is right next to me and overpowers even the headphones' ability to cancel their idiocy out, I can move. And I don't infringe upon anyone else's rights, since no one has the right to make me listen to what they have to say.
I highly recommend them to public transit commuters everywhere.
John
Ever since I've had a pda I've done things like this.
Every evening 30, 15 and then 5 minutes before I usually leave the office, I get a meeting reminder: "Maybe you can walk home today instead of taking the bus?" Maybe half the time I say "Oh, yeah, good idea."
I wrote a pretty simple application that will send me an email before I leave work; the email contains a suggestion for a meal based on recipes I've collected over the year with the ingredients broken out into a shopping list. A few times a week I'll detour to the market to make that meal rather than go home and do delivery.
When I quit smoking some years back, I put my cash and credit cards into a ziplock baggie with "Remember: You quit smoking" on it because, after smoking for years, it was simply my habit to walk to the store and get a pack, and I'd find myself doing it by rote without thinking about it. The baggie and the note made me stop and say "Oh, yeah, duh, why am I here?" and break out of my routine.
Little nudges can help loads. You might disregard them sometimes, or even most of the time, but they can help you start to do healthier things.
Since I can't tell them apart, I treat all ACs as the same person.
I would like to point out that, by using these supports, you are becoming mindful of, and acquiring new behaviors. Given sufficient time, repetition, and success, they will become new, adaptive behaviors and eventually habits - assuming you are not prompting/reminding yourself to do maladaptive behaviors. This is not outsourcing self-control, but enhancing it to help with skill acquisition. During development we had external supports to learn many things such as tying shoes, learning trig, and so on, eventually we internalized these processes. This is simply an electronic means of doing so.
Well, as far as Sig's go, Freud was a doozy.
I own two cel phone jammers. I have been trapped in too many inescapable situations (bus, train, lines, etc) with somebody having a loud and/or annoying conversation near me that even my headphones cannot drown out. I jam their cel phone signal and shut them the hell up. And I feel good about it, too. I'm like a secret superhero to everyone else within earshot.
I use a P20B jammer, which seems to jam most ATT, T-Mobile, and Verizon phones. It isn't 100% effective - Cricket and MetroPCS seem to to completely immune, not sure about Sprint/Nextel, and Alltel doesn't exist in my area. I recommend it for just about everybody.* If anyone knows of a jammer that ALSO works on those other carriers, I'd love to know about it.
* May not be legal in your jurisdiction.
I have to say, your pretty rude.
I own a mp3 player. I use it to drown out conversations, peeps on cell phones, teenagers who think that the whole bus cares about the convo they are having with the kid sitting next to them, so on. I don't step on anyone's rights listening to my mp3 player, I don't keep people from making or receiving calls.
While I understand the usefulness of a cell phone jammer, I can't see using it because you find peeps on cell phone's annoying. Grow a backbone, learn to ignore, or get a mp3 player.
Ya, i'll get off your lawn, you probably about to let an emp loose anyways.
Be seeing you...
Risky. Some people could take such a request badly, even respond violently, and there is no way to know before asking.
Some people are known to response to "hello" badly, too. That doesn't make the GPs statement any less true.
If everyone on the quiet car thinks that he can make one important call, then the car isn't quiet anymore.
Society works if people don't think they are so special that they deserve an exception.
If you want to know how cell phones can be used responsibly, travel to Japan. I was in Tokio for a week, and during that entire time I heard two cell phone rings, both belonging to foreigners. Everyone keeps their phone on vibrate, and for some reason they understand that you don't have to yell into the phone - you can be on a train full of commuters, every third or so talking on the phone and yet you barely notice because they almost whisper. Try it, you'll be surprised how sensitive cell phone microphones are and how good they can filter out background noise.
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org