Slashdot Mirror
Number of Mobile Calls Drops For the First Time (bbc.com)
The number of voice calls made on mobile phones in the UK fell for the first time ever in 2017 -- despite the fact we seem hooked on our devices. From a report: That is according to the latest report from telecoms regulator Ofcom, which charts what it describes as a decade of digital dependence. A total of 78% of all adults now own a smartphone. On average, people check them once every 12 minutes during their waking hours, the study claims. Two in five adults look at their phone within five minutes of waking, while a third check their phones just before falling asleep, according to the report. A high percentage (71%) say they never turn off their phones and 78% say they could not live without it.
The number of voice calls made on mobile phones in the UK fell for the first time ever in 2017 -- despite the fact we seem hooked on our devices.
Why should this be surprising? Smartphones are really not primarily phones and they facilitate a wide variety of forms of communication. Smartphones really should be called something else because they really are handheld computers that just happen to be able to make calls as one of their added features. If you are anything like me the phone capability accounts for 1-2% of the actual use of the device.
actually calls anyone for the most part.
It's all about texting.
Robocall hellholes get raided and shutdown, and now the total number of calls drops? I wonder what kind of sorcery this is.
Wait...my phone can CALL people? I never knew it had that function.
You have wirus, can I to connecting you to Microsoft Java Specialist?
It's a matter of digital etiquette, I guess.
I think 95% or more of calls to my cell are spam. Why would I answer the phone with such odds?
I've got a cheap data contract and use Signal.
"The likes of Facebook and WhatsApp are free to those whose privacy is of zero value."
Awesome! They will get to share a Nobel prize so it doesn't hurt to be nice to each other.
This happens because Kim Jong Un is a champion of world peace and has accomplished a lot after only six and a half years into his fifty or sixty years reign.
He put scientists at the top of the social ladder and has directed a country that can accomplish miracles with just $1000 per capita or a bit more, hence he can solve global warming and water management and sanitation and world hunger as long as being a beacon and example over how to end long running, deadly conflicts.
Did you know that Eritrea and Ethiopia have begun to have high level meetings and mend their old woes?
This is all but the beginning of a new world, where outdated views such as those held by the US deep state will be laughed at, pitied and ignored.
In other news, free calls made through Facetime, Whatsapp, Line etc have greatly increased in the last year.
Voice calls are as high as ever, it's just that some people aren't paying their mobile networks for them any more.
The number of legit voice calls I get is almost zero. The only reason I have a phone number at this point is to call my bank, and some types of SMS 2FA that don't support google authenticator or yubi keys yet.
Also for WhatsApp. You need to have a phone number to use WhatsApp. This is probably my most important use, as I use WhatsApp for all my voice/video calls these days. Number of voice calls I make and/or receive in a month can be counted on one hand.
moox. for a new generation.
Or FaceTime or whatever app they're using for calls and video chat that aren't technically phone calls?
I hardly ever check my phone while at work. Not because I can't but because I don't feel the temptation to do so. I opted out of social media a few years ago so I only use my phone when I need to, for important stuff. I've just put logcat to work and discovered that I checked (woke up) my phone only 5 times today.
1. In the morning (silencing the alarm clock)
2. At 8:50am (fetching 2FA codes for the day)
3. At 12:52pm (news while chewing on my sandwich)
4. At 6:32pm (at the gym, logging my progress)
5. At 7:51pm (stopwatch while cooking)
I also get no nuisance calls. I only give my number to friends and use a burner phone for everything else.
Making phone calls isn't necessary, if you need to catch up with friends ect theres whatsapp, facetime skype god knows what else. These apps are free, I'm glad people are making less phone calls, it means people are stopping using overpriced calls to contact people and instead are using their common sense.
I've had various smartphones since 2010, and, mobile/cellular phones since the mid 90's. Even today, I use between 1500-2000 minutes per month, on the phone for business or personal.
These apps are foreign spyware. At least with calls I get to be spied on by a national carrier and some national spy agency, plus they're cheaper since you pay more for calls + gigabytes than for calls alone!
" A high percentage (71%) say they never turn off their phones "
I remember back in the day I never turned off my land line... well, maybe one time when someone kept calling at 3am so I unplugged it.