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Use of the Internet and Smartphones is No Longer on the Rise in America (qz.com)

For years, the number of Americans who have reported using the internet, social media, and smartphones has been on a meteoric rise. But that rate has slowed to a near-stall. From a report: New data published this week by the Pew Research Center show that, since 2016, that number has plateaued, indicating those technologies have reached a saturation point among many groups of people. The percentage of Americans using smartphones (77%), the internet (88% to 89%), and social media (69%) has remained virtually unchanged during the last two years. "Put simply, in some instances there just aren't many non-users left," the report states.

More than 90% of adults younger than 50 report they use the internet or own a smartphone. This number squares with some of the trends noticed earlier this year by Gartner, a global research firm. The fourth quarter of 2017 marked the first time since 2004 that the market for smartphones declined globally compared to the prior year. People are less frequently buying new phones.

99 comments

  1. America has passed the point of peak literacy by OrangeTide · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's pretty simple. We won't see any improvement in smart phone and computer usage without advances in technology that cater to the needs of an increasingly illiterate or sub-literate population.

    --
    “Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
    1. Re:America has passed the point of peak literacy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The majority of them? You'd have to go to them in person, risking getting your ass shot off for entering their property, and you'd have to convince them that Jesus wants them to stop supporting Trump, that Trump is a Sinner and is of Satan, and that he's here to test their faith in Jesus, and that their immortal Souls are in jeopardy if they make the wrong decision. Then you'd also have to bring them a case each of Keystone Light, just to prove you're on the level. You can't convince them with the Internet because they either don't have it, or can't understand it anyway. They don't believe in Russians, news services, that immigrants are actually, honestly escaping the violence in their home countries that threaten the lives of their families, or anything else like that the rest of us can prove is real and factual. Trump speaks with loud voice, which they falsely interpret as 'authoritative', they hate Hillary Clinton mainly because she's a woman and is 'one of them city folk' (and therefore inherently untrustworthy), Democrats are all lying rich folk that just want to 'keep them down', and trying to have a rational, fact-based discussion with them will just get a shotgun pointed at your head. Really, it's an uphill battle, the damage has been done over the last couple decades at least, and it might take that long to undo it.

    2. Re:America has passed the point of peak literacy by OrangeTide · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      So, pretty much Trump supporters then?

      Perhaps, but to be fair a significant number of them were able to fill out their voter registration and absorb fake news memes on Facebook. Trump supporters are at least somewhat literate, even if their bullshit detector is malfunctioning.

      --
      “Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
    3. Re:America has passed the point of peak literacy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      A lot of the illegal alien population being brought into the US is illiterate (not just English, but in Spanish).

      Sure, they may not be able to enjoy the works of Shakespeare, but our corporate overlords need cheap workers, docile consumers, and our politicians need cheap votes.

    4. Re:America has passed the point of peak literacy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's pretty simple. We won't see any improvement in smart phone and computer usage without advances in technology that cater to the needs of an increasingly illiterate or sub-literate population.

      Uh, speaking of simple, you can't really get much more idiot-proof than an iPad, so I highly doubt we'll be seeing any great shift in hardware as our intelligence continues to collectively devolve.

    5. Re:America has passed the point of peak literacy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      America is on the decline across the board. Too many uneducated citizens, too many sources of propaganda that they willingly consume nonstop. These things are good for business, however, so it will only worsen over time.

    6. Re:America has passed the point of peak literacy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      oh good, can't have a conversation without showing hate. And such an early post.

    7. Re:America has passed the point of peak literacy by hey! · · Score: 1

      Well, the rates of functional illiteracy in the US is shockingly high: about one in seven adults have reading and writing skills that are so poor that they affect their ability to function, but they aren't technically totally illiterate.

      That said, I don't think there's been so much a growth in illiteracy as a growth in accommodating peoples' laziness. Also as stuff is increasingly made in China and sold across the world, things like user manuals are almost a thing of the past. User produced YouTube videos are the de facto manual for many, many products.

      --
      Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
    8. Re:America has passed the point of peak literacy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Have you seen the ads for iPads? The idiots in those ads don't even know what a PC is.

    9. Re: America has passed the point of peak literacy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Facts are not "hate". More lunacy from you cattle

    10. Re:America has passed the point of peak literacy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Joe was able to understand them, but when he spoke in an ordinary voice, he sounded pompous and faggy to them.

    11. Re:America has passed the point of peak literacy by jellomizer · · Score: 1

      That computer literacy bar is currently very low. I think it is more of a case of peak demand.
      Those who want a smartphone and internet already have it. Even people who are homeless and are on social security has a smart phone. Because they are rather affordable already, and in general a good deal compared to the alternatives (a Lan Line/a computer and internet)

      My father after a Fox News watching session wanted to get me on how people are taking advantage of our social security with people having these fancy smart phones.
      However I got them to agree, for a person to function in today's society be able to get a job and keep it, they need a phone, and Internet to communicate. and the cost of getting a Used Phone + a cheap limited plan. Is more affordable then the alternatives.

      There isn't too many people who Want a smart phone, because if they want it, they can get one. Those who do not have one, is because they don't want one, which is fine too, because there are reasons for not wanting one.

      --
      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    12. Re:America has passed the point of peak literacy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      We won't see any improvement in smart phone and computer usage without advances in technology that cater to the needs of an increasingly illiterate or sub-literate population.

      Remind me again who is the "sub-literate" population running around with a device that does constant tracking and information gathering, including possibly video and audio*? Or were you trying to be literal and not attacking people who refuse to pay to be monitored? If so, there's only very marginal (if at all) an "increasingly illiterate or sub-literate population". There is a relatively large child population (75 million under 18) who probably shouldn't have a smartphone (at least until 13) even if they were literate, but that population is only expected to grow by ~6% (5 million) over the next 30 years.

      * Literal features now.

    13. Re:America has passed the point of peak literacy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Whoever heeds discipline shows the way to life,
      but whoever ignores correction leads others astray.
      — Proverbs 10:17

      Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge,
      but whoever hates correction is stupid.
      — Proverbs 12:1

  2. I agree by 110010001000 · · Score: 4, Funny

    I have never used a smartphone OR the Internet and I never plan to.

    1. Re:I agree by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 2

      I have never used a smartphone OR the Internet and I never plan to.

      That's probably for the best. There are way too many mediocre news aggregator sites for nerds on the internet.

      --
      "That's the way to do it" - Punch
    2. Re:I agree by 110010001000 · · Score: 1

      I am big boned, not fat.

    3. Re:I agree by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I know - you're always coming over to my house and asking me to post things for you! It's really annoying!

    4. Re: I agree by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Posted from my iPhone"

    5. Re:I agree by antdude · · Score: 1

      Um, you just used the Internet. :P

      --
      Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
  3. SELL. SELL. SELL. by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 2

    Sell your stocks in companies that specialize in taking cat photos now!

    --
    "That's the way to do it" - Punch
  4. streaming? by swschrad · · Score: 1

    you would think the amount of cord-cutting would get more multicast video streaming on the net....

    --
    if this is supposed to be a new economy, how come they still want my old fashioned money?
    1. Re:streaming? by skids · · Score: 2

      Multicast is all but dead due to the on-demand culture... multicast really only works well if you have a bunch of people all watching the same thing at the same time. Or at the very least caching it at the same time. That doesn't really happen very much in real life.

    2. Re:streaming? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      you would think the amount of cord-cutting would get more multicast video streaming on the net....

      Web == internet to most people. Streaming doesn't count - to them. I even make that mistake until I stop short and think WTF I just said.

    3. Re:streaming? by known_coward_69 · · Score: 1

      there are a half dozen TV streaming companies in the USA

    4. Re:streaming? by commodore64_love · · Score: 4, Informative

      Many of the channels (like AMC) on Slingtv.com and plutotv.com are "multicast". You cannot rewind or fastforward the channel. Everyone is seeing the same second at the same time (live)

      --
      "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
    5. Re:streaming? by Kjella · · Score: 1

      you would think the amount of cord-cutting would get more multicast video streaming on the net....

      Long haul bandwidth is expensive but caching is cheap and the last mile cost mostly installation and maintenance, so there's not much savings from multicast over unicast from a CDN. If it wasn't for copyright you could set up a super effective simple, open LRU cache for torrents, every time you download externally the ISP caches the chunks. If one chunk = 4MB then a 4TB HDD = a million chunks and you don't need any redundancy. Next person who downloads only sends the hash and gets it right from the ISP's network at max speed. You could even do multi-layer and have a half-PB storage pod before you use any expensive links like undersea cables. For uhh... Linux distributions, sure.

      --
      Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
    6. Re:streaming? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I love streaming real-time machine control/status data over LAN via multicast.

  5. Amount of people who shit no longer on the rise by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You know it's something like 99.99% but there are people who don't due to medical reasons. There fore the shitting market is saturated.

  6. This will be a big problem for some by houstonbofh · · Score: 1

    Many companies in the space have stock valuations based on unlimited growth. Normal growth, or stasis, will be a big hit. I do not think investors understand profit and earnings rations anymore.

    1. Re:This will be a big problem for some by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Many companies in the space have stock valuations based on unlimited growth.

      Yes, well, whatever insane bullshit has caused the stock market to believe in unlimited growth is about due to be corrected.

      It is not possible to have 10% growth forever, no matter what the delusional idiots in the stock market think.

      The stock market has been dominated by all sorts of stupid and irrational shit for years, but the believe in never-ending growth takes the cake.

    2. Re:This will be a big problem for some by djinn6 · · Score: 1

      Most of those companies have foreign operations in places like India and Africa, who are just getting online now. Granted, they're still very poor so you wouldn't expect profits there to scale at the same rate with respect to the number of users.

    3. Re:This will be a big problem for some by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Even centuries of 3% to 5% growth has you running into serious problems, such as boiling the oceans away or melting the Earth's crust.
      To keep number smalls, 200 years of 5% growth will make your economy 17293 times bigger. For more fun 400 years of 10% growth will make it 36064 trillion times bigger.

    4. Re:This will be a big problem for some by Kjella · · Score: 1

      Many companies in the space have stock valuations based on unlimited growth. Normal growth, or stasis, will be a big hit. I do not think investors understand profit and earnings rations anymore.

      Some investors understand other investors well enough, a lot of people go by the way the arrow's pointing - up you buy and down you sell. And they get seduced by their own profit, I made lots of money on this stock so invest more. If you're too conservative or too twitchy you're likely to bail out of a booming stock too early, maybe it's not entirely rational based on book value but it's rational based on the market dynamics. Of course if you play the sucker's game too long you end up being the sucker but if you don't lose objectivity you can probably get out in time. And truth be told, average people probably stand a better chance picking the "next big thing" than trying to outwit the pros at reading earnings reports.

      --
      Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
  7. Well, duh. by hey! · · Score: 1

    You can't be on your smartphone more than all the time.

    --
    Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
    1. Re:Well, duh. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I do in fact wonder how many have a smartphone that is not connected to the Internet.
      At least one carrier in my country seems to sell dumb phones with a purposely bad call quality - so bad it seems to be sabotage by purposely choosing components that would be rejected by a vendor making a $9 phone for Indians or Africans, or a purposely degraded electric circuit or sabotaged firmware to saturate and muffle the sound.

    2. Re:Well, duh. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I do in fact wonder how many have a smartphone that is not connected to the Internet.

      Assuming it's not a rhetorical question, at least one

      (that would be me)

    3. Re:Well, duh. by jeff4747 · · Score: 1

      Two smartphones. Now you're on a smartphone 200% of the time!!

  8. Republicanism comes home to roost. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Republicanism comes home to roost, be sure to gut education on your way out, traitors.

    1. Re:Republicanism comes home to roost. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      The U.S. public education system has been run by leftists for generations, and suddenly the reason that it sucks is because Trump came along in the past 2 years? Give me a break.

    2. Re:Republicanism comes home to roost. by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 0

      No, you give us a break, asshole. DeVos isn't in the least bit qualified to being Secretary of Education, and she has an agenda to ruin the public school system, prove me wrong.

    3. Re:Republicanism comes home to roost. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, you give us a break, asshole. DeVos isn't in the least bit qualified to being Secretary of Education, and she has an agenda to ruin the public school system, prove me wrong.

      At the risk of feeding a troll:

      You are the one making two claims:

      1) "DeVos isn't in the least bit qualified to being Secretary of Education"
      2) "she has an agenda to ruin the public school system"

      The burden of proof is on the person making claims. That is you.

    4. Re:Republicanism comes home to roost. by GregMmm · · Score: 1, Interesting

      Easy. She is not "qualified" as you want. Mainly, you're blinded by your views, not her actual qualifications. I will agree, she has an agenda. By your response, I'm assuming you don't agree with it. I'm ok with that, and what I would like to hear is your opinion on what is good. Please don't same more of the same thing. That's not working well.

      By the way, you're not an "asshole" if you state the obvious, which was the US public education system has (is) being run by leftists and needs to be improved. Calling anyone a name just takes away from your argument.

    5. Re:Republicanism comes home to roost. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There's not enough time to prove every idiot wrong. And it's a waste of time. They can't learn.

    6. Re:Republicanism comes home to roost. by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 1

      Fuck off. I'm FAR from alone in seeing that DeVos is bad for education and clearly has an agenda. You're just another anonymous bobble-headed Trump supporter whose only motivation is to 'stick it to the libtards'. Eat shit and die, you're the one who lacks credibility.

    7. Re:Republicanism comes home to roost. by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 2

      Listen, buddy: At one point in my life, public schools having failed *me* personally, I thought charter schools/private schools were a good idea. I went to a private school 4th through 8th grade and benefitted thereby. But public schools in this country, *especially* for the Poor, and *especially* for poor Minorities, already is shit, and she wants to take more money away from them, to give to 'vouchers', that only really middle-class and rich families will be able to take advantage of? The vouchers alone won't cover tuition for any of these 'charter schools', so Poor families will not benefit -- mostly poor black families, but also other minorities, and *also* poor white families, but that last is the smallest group that will be affected. Meanwhile blacks and other minorities are hamstrung socially and economically by poor educational opportunities, which is the leading reason they're involved in gangs and crime more often than any other groups. So DeVos, through her shit policies and shit ideas, makes a bad situation worse, creating an ever-widening gap between The Poor and everyone else, one they'll never likely be able to cross. DeVos also is screwing over college students through things like removing protections against predatory lending and collection practicies for student loans. It all smacks of a Dominionist-like agenda, which fits in perfectly with her white 'Christian' background. Add to that her total lack of any relevant career background in education and you start to see that she was appointed to enact an agenda, not help fix and enhance public education in this country, just 'privatize' it, and make it even more accessible for upper-middle-class and rich people through giving them government money they really don't need, meanwhile screwing over families that rely on public schools.

      I don't exist to do 40 hours of research or even 8 hours or 1 hour of research for random jackasses on the Internet, so go do you own research -- assuming YOU are not just a TROLL or a Trump supporter trying to screw me up; go look at things yourself with an open mind if you really care at all.

      And now if you're just another damned troll, you're fapping furiously because you managed to get me to waste 10 minutes of my life explaining something to you that you don't even give a shit about. Nice job.

  9. Or we could fix our education system by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    We don't have to sit around and let our education system continue to go to hell. Even if we are past our economic peak, we can easily improve our education system. We just need more funding for education in low-income communities.

    1. Re:Or we could fix our education system by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Sure. All for it. First, get rid of Betsy deVos and get someone in there that believes in quality public education for all, not just rich white christian kids.

    2. Re:Or we could fix our education system by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      America is flat broke. We can't afford increasing funding for more social programs and entitlements for you folks.

    3. Re:Or we could fix our education system by OrangeTide · · Score: 1

      We don't have to sit around and let our education system continue to go to hell.

      I've been hearing this since the 80's and 90's, back when I was in school. The problem I see is people don't want to accidentally pay for some stranger's kid to get a free education. America is a material girl, Living in a material world.

      We just need more funding for education in low-income communities.

      I had hoped that the information age would improve literacy, and it has somewhat. But I think we've leveled off and can't expect much else to happen without effort (and money). As long as people are OK living in a gated community and can avoid interaction with the lower classes, we won't be too motivated to address our social problems. The problems of poverty and education of the poor have been with us for pretty much all of the 20th century, to one degree or another.

      --
      “Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
    4. Re:Or we could fix our education system by dcw3 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Maybe you should point out where we've had quality public education before instead of blaming someone for wanting to try something different. I bet you weren't complaining about the shitty public schools before she came along, and if you don't believe they were shitty then there's no helping you.

      --
      Just another day in Paradise
    5. Re:Or we could fix our education system by Hasaf · · Score: 1

      Our education system is doing quite well, despite the nay-sayers. When we look at NAEP scores, which is one of the oldest measures that provided consistency in its content, we see that the schools are doing quite well. This is particularly true when we consider that we test all students. I have taught in other countries. Many other counties have a filtering approach that insures that the less promising students do not advance , and are not able to pull the average down. If a person compares top 20% US to other countries, the differences all but disappear.

      The book "Reign of Error" by Diane Ravitch goes into this in much greater detail than I have here (. . . what, a 396 page book is more detailed than a single, short, paragraph . .. who would have guesses that. . . ).

    6. Re:Or we could fix our education system by Hasaf · · Score: 4, Insightful

      But that same reasoning holds that we can afford massive tax cuts for the wealthiest of its citizen. These tax cuts are limiting our ability to deal with future crises.

    7. Re:Or we could fix our education system by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Maybe you should point out where we've had quality public education before instead of blaming someone for wanting to try something different.

      It's not someone wanting to try something different. It's someone wanting to make more money for themselves.

    8. Re:Or we could fix our education system by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Those tax cuts you so cynically refer to are the government taking less of MY money out of MY pocket and I think we'll do just fine with that going forward. No you can't reach into MY pocket to pay for YOUR social program of the day, so sorry.

    9. Re:Or we could fix our education system by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Can you provide a logical, thoughtful explanation, with cited references, that demonstrates exactly how Betsy deVos believes that "just rich white christian kids" are entitled to "quality public education"?

      Or is it just what your puppetmasters in the Democrat party have brainwashed you into believing, and into mindlessly spouting these left-wing extremist talking points?

      I only see these two possibilities, here.

    10. Re:Or we could fix our education system by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 1

      Are you just spewing verbal diarrhea, or do you have some citations for your screed?

      --
      Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    11. Re:Or we could fix our education system by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Fuck everyone else, I got mine and I don't want to pay for anything that doesn't directly benefit me."

    12. Re:Or we could fix our education system by jeff4747 · · Score: 0

      Maybe you should point out where we've had quality public education before

      Every year from, oh, let's say 1920 to 1980.

      deVos is just another in a long line of those out to destroy public education. The existence of previous piles of shit doesn't mean we have to accept the latest.

    13. Re:Or we could fix our education system by jeff4747 · · Score: 1

      Disclaimer: I'm not on any sort of social program. I make far too much money.

      On behalf of every sane person on the planet: Fuck you you selfish piece of shit.

      We pay for plenty of stuff that helps you. In fact, you scream incessantly about how terrible it is if we cut spending on something that helps you personally. The second it would help someone else slightly more, you scream "NO!!! MY MONEY!!!".

      Your greed-above-all-else attitude can not die out fast enough.

    14. Re:Or we could fix our education system by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 1

      Don't pretend to know anything about me or my life, asshole, because you don't, and YES, I complained about the public school system before, butr deVos has an agenda.

    15. Re:Or we could fix our education system by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 1

      Thank you for proving that there's at least one other person around here who isn't totally blind.

    16. Re:Or we could fix our education system by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 1

      DeVos is promoting so-called 'charter schools' and funneling money away from public schools with 'vouchers' that will benefit the rich more than anyone else, and the poor will be left with shitty underfunded schools if they have any school at all -- and minorities will be hurt the worst since the vouchers won't cover tuition at a charter school by itself. This alone will destroy the public school system. DeVos is not even qualified to be Secretary of Education, she has NO credentials, Trump had NO business appointing her in the first place.

    17. Re:Or we could fix our education system by dcw3 · · Score: 1

      I went through public school in the 60s and 70s. You're way the fuck off.

      --
      Just another day in Paradise
    18. Re:Or we could fix our education system by dcw3 · · Score: 1

      If that's the case, they you have no complaint about someone making an attempt to fix what is clearly broken, asshole.

      --
      Just another day in Paradise
    19. Re:Or we could fix our education system by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      We don't have to sit around and let our education system continue to go to hell. Even if we are past our economic peak, we can easily improve our education system. We just need more funding for education in low-income communities.

      A better strategy to improve public education for every student is a transition to delivering education via the Internet so students can learn at home, at the public library, or at the community centre.

    20. Re:Or we could fix our education system by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 1

      You mean the public schools that are lavishly funded and yet underperform year after year and never get any better? And when did we suddenly discover any sympathy for the working class? They're deplorable, remember? We have whole TV shows dedicated to ridiculing them. The sooner they get what's coming to them, the better.

      --
      Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
  10. Well no shit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Using tech these days is virtually placing yourself under 24/7 scrutiny.

  11. I guess the rate of planned obsolescence by bobstreo · · Score: 2

    was set too low.

    I'm still rocking a 2 core AMD laptop from 7 or 8 years ago.

    I haven't bought a new phone in about 8 years (the cellular company gave me a free one when the last one I purchased wasn't supported any longer)

    My needs are pretty simple, my NAS is about 5 years old and my ATOM server (mail/web/DB) is about 9 years old.

    1. Re:I guess the rate of planned obsolescence by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      lol, you still on full hd? :D

    2. Re:I guess the rate of planned obsolescence by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > I'm still rocking a 2 core AMD laptop from 7 or 8 years ago.

      And I'm still on a 2010 i3. If an old AMD laptop CPU is still good enough for typical tasks, it's no wonder there's been a flattening of the PC market.

      It's a shame that "market analysts" and Apple fanboys don't realize that.

  12. Oh come now by cascadingstylesheet · · Score: 5, Funny

    Surely we can get more growth by having internet connected tablets for pets or something.

    1. Re:Oh come now by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      we can't and Don't call me Shirley.

    2. Re:Oh come now by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Or something...
      Welcome to the Internet of Things.
      Your Toilet tells your Refrigerator that you need more roughage, based on the sounds of various grunts and groans and plops. Your Refrigerator orders some more roughage for you, and the Roughage Distribution Center places an order for roughage based on this and what various other IoTs tell it.
      A month later, driverless FedEx delivers a Container load of rotting Broccoli to what once passed as your front lawn, but you won't care by then, having expired Elvis-style, still seated and constipated.
      The Internet of Things is growing so rapidly that at some point all of us may be considered... disposable. It's alimentary.

    3. Re:Oh come now by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 3, Informative

      Surely we can get more growth by having internet connected tablets for pets or something.

      My pets are way too smart to waste time online.

      --
      "That's the way to do it" - Punch
  13. I thought that was what candy bar phones were for. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And I mean Microsoft even advertised with the fact, that a four year old child could use Windows 8.
    Of course they did not tell us, that ONLY a four year old child could use it without going insane over how "simplified" (read: dumbed down) and hence cumbersome it was.

    And it is literally Apple's entire business model.

    The whole industry seems to cater to the "loud idiot" at the very bottom of the bell curve, working hard to force the whole bell curve downwards by making things *harder* for everyone smarter than that. And then they act surprised, if the curve actually shifts downwards, and hence breeds a new, even dumber and even louder group of morons. Which they immediately brown-nose of course. ... Creating a downward spiral that breeds the "perfect customer". But also leaves nobody to actually make those "smart" products.

  14. It's my fault by Cro+Magnon · · Score: 1

    I got a smartphone for my mom. She was the only person on the planet who didn't have one.

    --
    Slow down, cowboy! It has been 4 hours since you last posted. You must wait another few hours.
    1. Re:It's my fault by dcw3 · · Score: 5, Funny

      I got a smartphone for my mom. She was the only person on the planet who didn't have one.

      I didn't know that I had a brother! Have mom give me a call.

      --
      Just another day in Paradise
    2. Re: It's my fault by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You jest, but there is truth there. My mother has neither internet nor smartphone, and isn't interested in either. So this extended family is at peak online usage already. There is no more to be had.

  15. Re: I thought that was what candy bar phones were by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It took surprisingly long until someone figured itâ(TM)s Microsoftâ(TM)s fault!

  16. Re:Obligatory car reference by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Simple solution .. connect all cars still on the road and to be built to the internet .. forcing authorization from the manufacturer before the vehicle will start ...

    Profit!

    Simple solution .. connect all cars still on the road and to be built to the internet .. forcing authorization from the government before the vehicle will start

    FTFY

  17. Smart Phone Stalling by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    There isn't any new technology worth spending money on an upgraded Smart Phone.

    The apps all pretty much stink. And those that are useful like Podcast Players, movie/video, etc. don't need much CPU. My 5 year old LG 2 does the same stuff my new Galaxy does. And the games in general just suck potatoes. Except for Word Chums (Scrabble) which doesn't require much horsepower.

    Since Apple was caught red handed intentionally slowing older devices, I would never consider an Apple phone.

    1. Re:Smart Phone Stalling by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It too have a very old phone like that and it's still better than low end phones (at least the build quality, screen and random stuff will be better).
      The battery depletes faster than it charges if I play games while plugged in, or even do some non game things.

      I will probably go back to dumb phone and use pen and paper to transfer the contacts. Else, thinking to use pen and paper to save the list of apps (that are semi useful) and format it over again because I think I crapped up something.

      What I miss is a way to find out how fast is it charging on a given charger or USB port (500mA or 1000mA or even 0mA or 100mA for when it doesn't works). I'm on old hardware with linux 3.0. finding the data from the terminal as root would be enough for me. I didn't even install google play, google play services and such.
      If I really needed a smartphone I think I would want one with USB-C, not because I like USB-C but because even a port on a laptop should have enough milliAmps. Then something like 8-core Cortex A55 (4+4) on 12nm process should be quite more power efficient.

      Since Apple was caught red handed intentionally slowing older devices, I would never consider an Apple phone.

      That was a minor thing. They were caught extending the life of poorly functioning old hardware. Do you also know all modern hardware contains firmware and sensors that slow it down in real time when something overheats. Some of the last that didn't were Athlon on socket A that instantly caught fire when you remove the heatsink or at least shot up to something like 130C or 140C.

  18. The eternal September is over. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Today is October the first.

  19. Normal by nospam007 · · Score: 1

    We do what we can, but between all the Facebook updates, Twitter, email, Pinterest, Instagram, Reddit, Tumblr etc we have to watch where we're going or we'll get run over by a truck.

  20. So let's follow the standard /. news cyle by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I expect to see tons of stories predicting how the cell phone industry is on the road to extinction due to slowing sales.

    While they're at it, be sure to quite the 'explosive' 3000% growth of some new niche product as proof of cell phones being replaced even though the growth just sales going from 5 units last year to 15,000 units this year.

  21. About flippin' time by p51d007 · · Score: 1

    "People are less frequently buying new phones." Maybe the "trendy" "hip" types have found something else to waste their money on that a new iPhone/Galaxy smartphone year after year. It is amazing that a minor upgrade, processor, ram speed, display, warrants prices as high as they do for these things. Minus ad/R&D a 64% margin between build cost & retail price is something most other retailers would DREAM of. It's just "not worth it" wasting that amount of money on a smartphone. I usually walk a large park on Saturday's and Sundays snapping photos of wildlife, flowers & such, and, it just amaze me, the amount of people "tuned out" walking around looking for pokemon' stuff or just looking at their phones, missing out on nature, and how QUIET is is. At least they are outdoors I guess.

  22. economics 101 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    There is a monopoly that makes the price of entry at $100/mo (typical). ATT, Verizon, land-line cable.

    This is the reason that China wins the internet. The value creation is stalled by the gatekeepers.
    Monopoly of a dictator makes the dictator wealthy, but steals the future of the country, even if that country is the US.

    Look at it. Plutocracy isn't the same as a free market, or true democracy.

    Fix it or die. If the future is connected, and efficient, and we get neither, way too late, then we get to be the Peru (2nd world) of tomorrow, not the leader. Folks in power - fix this or we die.

    -EngrStudent

  23. How could this be? by BobSteinVisiBone · · Score: 1

    Trends clearly showed that internet usage by 2019 would be 135%

    --
    Bob Stein, http://bobste.in