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Nearly Half of American Adults Are Smartphone Owners
First time accepted submitter saiful76 writes "Nearly half (46%) of American adults are smartphone owners as of February 2012, an increase of 11 percentage points over the 35% of Americans who owned a smartphone last May. Two in five adults (41%) own a cell phone that is not a smartphone, meaning that smartphone owners are now more prevalent within the overall population than owners of more basic mobile phones."
Other than the "convenience" of being able to get at your email, a crutch for a stunted sense of direction, and a safety net for poor before-hand planning, the only reason I can see for having a smartphone is for keeping yourself entertained on the go. That brings me to: are people's minds so empty that they can't stand just a bit of quiet time without outside stimulation? Somehow we've been doing it for millennia without going completely bonkers, just sayin'.
The other 54% must have realized that the offerings in this country are so third world they might as well just go with the cheapest, most basic offering because their peers expect them to have a cell phone. The other 46% think they're actually getting a good deal paying $80 or more a month for bandwidth caps, high latency, and cell phones with half their features turned off because America's mobile infrastructure is so crappy it can't handle what would, in the rest of the first world, be considered basic service.
#fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
It's worse than we ever suspected...
My friends, my family.. Every one of them could potentially be a smartphone owner.
I could be a smartphone owner myself and not even know it!
Yay, us.
-Clio
Karma: Bad (mostly from not giving a fuck)
Blog: http://clintjcl.wordpress.com
Everything now is a bloated smartphone with poor reception and even poorer battery life
Albert Einstein refused to memorize telephone numbers because they could be written down. Clearly, he was an idiot.
Bill Clinton: Pimp we can believe in. - The Shirt!!!
Their address?
And their phone number?
And their work phone number?
And their cell phone, pager, work cell?
And their work address?
And their email address?
And their work email address?
And their birthday?
Etc etc.
And for how many friends did you know this? And businesses you frequent? Acquaintances?
Instead of memorizing a rolodex, which is subject to change and being forgetten, carrying an easily accessible one with you is dumber?
This is not the funny you're looking for.
Yes, because being able to look up information at a whim is going to make people more stupid. Is memorising your friends address and phone number really that important to intelligence?
I find these days that someone tells me something that sounds rather dubious, I look it up using my smartphone, find the truth and memorise that. I find that in checking facts when people tell me something, I am more likely to remember it later on.
A significant number of those people aren't as smart as their phones...
Three Squirrels
In the past, your friends would draw you a simplified map of the neighboring streets using a device known as a pen on permanent non-volatile memory surface known as paper. The really neat thing was that as long you kept it dry, the information would be retained permanently. If you were really lucky, they might photocopy part of a map and place a photograph of their house. These too were really neat in that they stored street numbers, so you knew what end to travel too.
Sometime they might even leave the front porch light on, place balloons outside the entrance, or place candles along the driveway like landing lights, so you knew you were heading in the right direction.
A smartphone is really that much of a dumb-down
It's the over-reliance of gadgets that are making us more and more lazy
And the most dangerous part is, we are at the verge of being so lazy that we may become too lazy to think, to memorize, to use our own brain
5 or 6 generations ago, the whole world could go on functioning without electricity
3 or 4 generations ago, human beings started relying on electricity
And now, if there is a black-out, you see people started panicking
3 or 4 generation ago, banks could go on functioning without computers
Now? If the "system down" sign is up, there is a sure bet that you won't be able to do almost any transaction in a bank
Human nature, being human nature, we should know when to put a stop before it becomes too late
Over-reliance on the smart phone will only get us into yet another pitfall --- what if the smartphone breaks down? What if the GPS gadgets break down? Are we able to function without them?
Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
The price came down a couple years ago. You can get an Android slider for $99, and Virgin Mobile unlimited data (they've been threatening to cap it for some time) with about 300 minutes included for $35/month. Boost Mobile is $40-55/month. Other pre-paid services are nearly as cheap.
If you're paying $80/month for your cell phone service, you're probably an idiot, who is a slave to advertising and doesn't know how to shop around.
Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
Of that 46% know how to use their smart phone to it's full potential. Most of them just have them because it is the "in thing" to own.
... and if you think that's shocking, just wait until you hear what percentage of computer owners have yet to write their first computer program. Or what percentage of car owners haven't entered a single road rally.
I don't care if it's 90,000 hectares. That lake was not my doing.
What is this "pager" thing of which you speak? And why do I have to remember it?
Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
I find these days that someone tells me something that sounds rather dubious, I look it up using my smartphone, find the truth and memorise that. I find that in checking facts when people tell me something, I am more likely to remember it later on.
This!
It Seems to me, having once gone to the effort you remember longer, even if the effort is small. (Someone will look this up and prove me wrong, but that's why I said it "seems".)
Of course the real beauty of this is the instant calling of BS (in the nicest possible way of course) when BS is spewn.
This prevents a lot of cockamamie rumors from ballooning out of control. I've been at a table of 6 when dubious stuff floated and seen 4 smartphones light up. (I've since practiced the phrase "I stand corrected" more frequently).
Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
It's the over-reliance of gadgets that are making us more and more lazy
That's just another way of saying effective. Time gained by offloading unimportant tasks to machines is time that can be better spent on more important goals. And yes, "having fun" fits too.
And the most dangerous part is, we are at the verge of being so lazy that we may become too lazy to think, to memorize, to use our own brain
I suppose you're demonstrating that by making big claims without showing the evidence that supports them?
5 or 6 generations ago, the whole world could go on functioning without electricity
3 or 4 generations ago, human beings started relying on electricity
And now, if there is a black-out, you see people started panicking
3 or 4 generation ago, banks could go on functioning without computers
Now? If the "system down" sign is up, there is a sure bet that you won't be able to do almost any transaction in a bank
Human nature, being human nature, we should know when to put a stop before it becomes too late
Over-reliance on the smart phone will only get us into yet another pitfall --- what if the smartphone breaks down? What if the GPS gadgets break down? Are we able to function without them?
So? Worse things have happened and we've pretty much always survived. Occasional blackouts are just a nuisance, nothing more than a drop in a bucket compared to the advantages of these systems, and if shit really hits the fans and the systems go down permanently, our survival instincts will kick-in.
If members from the nobility who were used since birth to have servants to take care of their every need are able to do whatever it takes to eat and survive, I think we can l live without GPS or smartphones. Well, I still do, but it's not because I share your concerns.
Dilbert RSS feed
Cry me a river. When I was growing up mobile telephones had rotary dials and vacuum tube finals. Calls were about $1.25 a minute ($6 in today's money.) There were 1-3 channels per city and you had to wait your turn. There was no encryption, anyone could listen in. You didn't own your phone, the phone company did, and they installed it in your car.
http://www.wb6nvh.com/MTSfiles/Carphone5.htm
Lawn.
-- I have a private email server in my basement.
For police, smartphones are the DNA or fingerprints of the 21st century. Soon every crime investigation will start with "any DNA on scene?" followed by "Who do the tower logs say was in the area at the time of the crime?"