5 ms·

Why is carplay even a thing? Geez, can't people stop fiddling with their phones? They've become like a kind of soother, a techno nanny that people can't do wi

Why is carplay even a thing? Geez, can't people stop fiddling with their phones? They've become like a kind of soother, a techno nanny that people can't do without. The sooner people put those things down, the better off we'll be.

judge2020 7y ago
So you can use your preferred maps app in your car, so you can choose music using your favorite music app, so you can send and receive text messages without taking your eyes off the road. Without it, people would just be looking at their phones anyways. Guess we should go back to paper maps and listening to AM radio.
- gerbilly 7y ago
  Thanks, you're just making my point for me. I mean you said app twice in it. Ten years ago, nothing was mediated via an app, somehow we managed to survive. Now almost everyone has been turned into a phone zombie. You're wasting your lives people! FOMO is entirely backwards, you shouldn't be afraid of missing out on something in your phone, you should be afraid of missing out on your entire life.
  - ad-hominem 7y ago
    Thanks, you're just making my point for me. Thirty years ago, nothing was on the internet, somehow we managed to survive. One hundred years ago, nobody took antibiotics, somehow we managed to survive. Five hundred years ago, nobody read books, somehow we managed to survive. Ten thousand years ago, nobody farmed grains, somehow we managed to survive.
  - Johnny555 7y ago
    10 years ago we still had in-car GPS's, but instead of being an app it was a standalone device, I don't see how that makes anything better. Having my car read a SMS from my wife reminding me to pick up eggs from the store on the way home hardly seems like being a zombie. We survived without a lot of things we have now that we didn't have 10, or even 100 years ago, but that doesn't mean we were better off without them.
    - gerbilly 7y ago
      It doesn't immediately mean we're better off with them either. I'd argue that life is worse since smartphones were invented, on many axes. The privacy implications alone far outweigh the benefits.
    - magduf 7y ago
      I remember driving before GPS: there was tons of time and gasoline wasted driving in circles looking for things, getting lost, pulling over and trying to make sense of a paper map that doesn't have that much resolution, asking people for directions and getting useless and wrong directions, etc. It was a total pain in the ass. I also remember life before cellphones. You couldn't communicate with people when you were en-route, so you didn't find out until you got there that something was canceled, or you needed to get something on the way, or were meeting somewhere else, etc. So again, lots of wasted time and gas. I'm surprised people with this luddite mentality don't tell us that we should all just go back to writing letters, because things were so great back before we could have real-time conversations over a long distance...
      - celticmusic 7y ago
        I don't think people are arguing that cell phones and technology is bad, just cautioning for moderation.
        Johnny555 7y ago
        I don't think people are arguing that cell phones and technology is bad, just cautioning for moderation. Some people are: I'd argue that life is worse since smartphones were invented, on many axes. and: Now almost everyone has been turned into a phone zombie. You're wasting your lives people!
        gerbilly 7y ago
        Yeah that's me quoted above, and yes arguing against smartphones. I believe smartphones are a net loss to people's happiness. All of these liberating technologies are fun for the early adopters, but then become oppressive once you are expected to have them. We are quickly reaching that point. What they really are are surveillance transponders that we carry around voluntarily.
  - mikestew 7y ago
    You're wasting your lives people! The fact that some just want some directions to where they're going, and to listen to some music along the way, hardly represents the downfall of civilization. I'll give you credit for avoiding the temptation to break out the ol' "wake up, sheeple!", though.
    - gerbilly 7y ago
      > The fact that some just want some directions to where they're going, and to listen to some music along the way, hardly represents the downfall of civilization. Yeah, but on the directions front, it does represent a big loss in self efficacy. I don't rely on GPS, even when travelling to foreign countries. I know people who don't even know the cities they live in. They are living in the phone's world itself, you could say.
      - Johnny555 7y ago
        On the other hand, the security of a smartphone with maps that cover the world have opened up self-guided international travel to people that may have otherwise limited themselves to guided tours. I just took a sibling on her first non-guided international trip a couple years ago -- her fear was always getting lost in a strange city, but when she found out how easily her cell phone would help her navigate the city streets and transit systems, she's been on two trips on her own since then and enjoys the freedom of being able to explore on her own with much less worry of getting lost. Of course, she could lose or break her phone, but then she's no worse off them if she lost a paper map, she'd have to ask for directions, take a cab, or find a new map, but the cell phone gives her the freedom to explore at her own pace.
  - TurkTurkleton 7y ago
    Ten years ago was 2009, dude. I definitely had an Android phone and used apps for navigation and music back then. In my car, even! Just via an aux cable instead of Bluetooth and Android Auto. (Of course, now I have a Mazda 3 and an iPhone and I use CarPlay...)
  - Broken_Hippo 7y ago
    Years ago I had to carry a bunch of crap with me. I had to take time to check email instead of simply looking when I get the message on my phone. I had to take a magazine to the toilet instead of reading on my phone. I wore watches. They never lasted as long as the phone. I used to have alarm clocks too. The phones actually do better to wake me since a lot of alarm ringtones vary in sounds. Gameboys and other portable gaming devices have been a thing for some time. I actually carried around pen and paper when I went to the grocery store! When I was poor, I also took a calculator. I used to have a portable television. It was black and white and possibly had a smaller screen than current phones. It definitely had poorer definition and one was lucky to pick up channels with the antennae. Instead of arguing about who is correct about something, we can look it up in a restaurant. It is cool, and makes the conversation less about who is right and wrong and more about what is and could be. Do you remember landlines? Wasn't it just wonderful that one couldn't have a private conversation at home? Would you seriously trade texting and/or having a private phone number for a house phone of old? My niece carries my sister's phone around the house on video to talk to me. It dosn't matter that they are in Seattle and me in Norway. I have a camera with me all the time and picture processing costs nothing! Do you have any clue how much I wanted that as a kid? I loved taking pictures, but couldn't afford film developing. As a bonus, my phone takes better pictures than many of the old cameras I've used. I happen to take pictures of manhole covers when I'm out, at least when I can make them interesting. I share my artwork, that I make on paper, on the internet using my phone. I have access to so many things. Lots of people can teach themselves "adulting" now, especially cooking. On their phone. Before I had my tablet, I used my phone in the kitchen. Wasting life? No. You just aren't seeing the joy these piece of technology bring to others and disregarding the things the phone has replaced.
- narimiran 7y ago
  > so you can send and receive text messages How about not reading messages while you're driving? And why do you have to write messages while in traffic? Can't this wait?
  - RandallBrown 7y ago
    You're not reading them with CarPlay or Android Auto. The car reads them to you. Also, speech to text writes them. There's no keyboard.
  - bitwalker 7y ago
    The whole point is that you are neither reading or writing them, they are read _to_ you, and you dictate messages if you feel the need to reply while driving, but both can be done with hands on the wheel and eyes on the road. I suppose it is up for debate whether just the act of listening or speaking is distracting enough to be considered a bad thing.
    - tetrep 7y ago
      It is. Car conversations are a serious issue with respect to distracted driving. I personally can't handle thinking about driving safely and thinking about a conversation. Humans are famously bad at multi-tasking and I don't see how being in a car gives us magical powers. I thought I had read a study about talking to people in your car versus drinking, but here's a similar one with talking on a phone versus being drunk: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/16884056/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/16884056/
      - celticmusic 7y ago
        If I'm speaking with someone in the car and I detect a potentially dangerous situation, I immediately stop talking to focus. It's hard to explain, but I would say my attention is unfocused and broad. I don't know if this is ultimately safe, but I've never had an issue with it.
        7y ago
- black6 7y ago
  > Guess we should go back to paper maps Knowing where you’re going before you take off is generally a good idea. A paper map may not be the solution—pulling up an online map and figuring out your route before getting in your vehicle is one way and what I tend to do. I routinely see locals plug local destinations into their navigator-of-choice, though, so expecting people to know the lay of the land these days may be a bridge too far. God forbid there is construction or an accident and you have to improvise!
- Izkata 7y ago
  > So you can use your preferred maps app in your car, so you can choose music using your favorite music app, Get a dock for your phone and use bluetooth for the audio. (Or line-in, except headphone jacks keep disappearing...) > so you can send and receive text messages without taking your eyes off the road. Holy fuck no. Don't encourage this. Taking your eyes off the road is only one symptom of the problem. The problem is splitting your attention. There's a TV show where they demonstrate this most years, Canada's Worst Driver. The challenge is to drive in a circle on a track. Talking on the phone - not ever looking away from the road - is enough to start veering off the track.
Fredej 7y ago
Well, it's a thing specifically to stop people from fiddling with their phones.
alex_anglin 7y ago
Maps and audio (music/podcasts) are the two main reasons I use carplay. Built in options in all vehicles I've used since carplay has been available are horrible in comparison.
briandear 7y ago
Maps. Podcasts. Apple Music: “Hey Siri, play <whatever you could imagine>” Having your next appointment automatically show up in Maps ready to simply click “go.” Or “Hey Siri, where is the nearest In and Out?” It’s amazing.
IOT_Apprentice 7y ago
Why? because the automaker interface is AWFUL. Also, why should I pay a car dealer upwards of $2500 to gain GPS? My phone has GPS, it also has Siri so I can talk to it.
TomVDB 7y ago
It's a thing when many car manufacturers want you to pay a monthly subscription just get simple map updates for their already very crappy maps application. It's a thing when when all your music is already on your phone.

judge2020 7y ago

So you can use your preferred maps app in your car, so you can choose music using your favorite music app, so you can send and receive text messages without taking your eyes off the road. Without it, people would just be looking at their phones anyways. Guess we should go back to paper maps and listening to AM radio.

gerbilly 7y ago
Thanks, you're just making my point for me. I mean you said app twice in it. Ten years ago, nothing was mediated via an app, somehow we managed to survive. Now almost everyone has been turned into a phone zombie. You're wasting your lives people! FOMO is entirely backwards, you shouldn't be afraid of missing out on something in your phone, you should be afraid of missing out on your entire life.
- ad-hominem 7y ago
  Thanks, you're just making my point for me. Thirty years ago, nothing was on the internet, somehow we managed to survive. One hundred years ago, nobody took antibiotics, somehow we managed to survive. Five hundred years ago, nobody read books, somehow we managed to survive. Ten thousand years ago, nobody farmed grains, somehow we managed to survive.
- Johnny555 7y ago
  10 years ago we still had in-car GPS's, but instead of being an app it was a standalone device, I don't see how that makes anything better. Having my car read a SMS from my wife reminding me to pick up eggs from the store on the way home hardly seems like being a zombie. We survived without a lot of things we have now that we didn't have 10, or even 100 years ago, but that doesn't mean we were better off without them.
  - gerbilly 7y ago
    It doesn't immediately mean we're better off with them either. I'd argue that life is worse since smartphones were invented, on many axes. The privacy implications alone far outweigh the benefits.
  - magduf 7y ago
    I remember driving before GPS: there was tons of time and gasoline wasted driving in circles looking for things, getting lost, pulling over and trying to make sense of a paper map that doesn't have that much resolution, asking people for directions and getting useless and wrong directions, etc. It was a total pain in the ass. I also remember life before cellphones. You couldn't communicate with people when you were en-route, so you didn't find out until you got there that something was canceled, or you needed to get something on the way, or were meeting somewhere else, etc. So again, lots of wasted time and gas. I'm surprised people with this luddite mentality don't tell us that we should all just go back to writing letters, because things were so great back before we could have real-time conversations over a long distance...
    - celticmusic 7y ago
      I don't think people are arguing that cell phones and technology is bad, just cautioning for moderation.
      - Johnny555 7y ago
        I don't think people are arguing that cell phones and technology is bad, just cautioning for moderation. Some people are: I'd argue that life is worse since smartphones were invented, on many axes. and: Now almost everyone has been turned into a phone zombie. You're wasting your lives people!
        gerbilly 7y ago
        Yeah that's me quoted above, and yes arguing against smartphones. I believe smartphones are a net loss to people's happiness. All of these liberating technologies are fun for the early adopters, but then become oppressive once you are expected to have them. We are quickly reaching that point. What they really are are surveillance transponders that we carry around voluntarily.
- mikestew 7y ago
  You're wasting your lives people! The fact that some just want some directions to where they're going, and to listen to some music along the way, hardly represents the downfall of civilization. I'll give you credit for avoiding the temptation to break out the ol' "wake up, sheeple!", though.
  - gerbilly 7y ago
    > The fact that some just want some directions to where they're going, and to listen to some music along the way, hardly represents the downfall of civilization. Yeah, but on the directions front, it does represent a big loss in self efficacy. I don't rely on GPS, even when travelling to foreign countries. I know people who don't even know the cities they live in. They are living in the phone's world itself, you could say.
    - Johnny555 7y ago
      On the other hand, the security of a smartphone with maps that cover the world have opened up self-guided international travel to people that may have otherwise limited themselves to guided tours. I just took a sibling on her first non-guided international trip a couple years ago -- her fear was always getting lost in a strange city, but when she found out how easily her cell phone would help her navigate the city streets and transit systems, she's been on two trips on her own since then and enjoys the freedom of being able to explore on her own with much less worry of getting lost. Of course, she could lose or break her phone, but then she's no worse off them if she lost a paper map, she'd have to ask for directions, take a cab, or find a new map, but the cell phone gives her the freedom to explore at her own pace.
- TurkTurkleton 7y ago
  Ten years ago was 2009, dude. I definitely had an Android phone and used apps for navigation and music back then. In my car, even! Just via an aux cable instead of Bluetooth and Android Auto. (Of course, now I have a Mazda 3 and an iPhone and I use CarPlay...)
- Broken_Hippo 7y ago
  Years ago I had to carry a bunch of crap with me. I had to take time to check email instead of simply looking when I get the message on my phone. I had to take a magazine to the toilet instead of reading on my phone. I wore watches. They never lasted as long as the phone. I used to have alarm clocks too. The phones actually do better to wake me since a lot of alarm ringtones vary in sounds. Gameboys and other portable gaming devices have been a thing for some time. I actually carried around pen and paper when I went to the grocery store! When I was poor, I also took a calculator. I used to have a portable television. It was black and white and possibly had a smaller screen than current phones. It definitely had poorer definition and one was lucky to pick up channels with the antennae. Instead of arguing about who is correct about something, we can look it up in a restaurant. It is cool, and makes the conversation less about who is right and wrong and more about what is and could be. Do you remember landlines? Wasn't it just wonderful that one couldn't have a private conversation at home? Would you seriously trade texting and/or having a private phone number for a house phone of old? My niece carries my sister's phone around the house on video to talk to me. It dosn't matter that they are in Seattle and me in Norway. I have a camera with me all the time and picture processing costs nothing! Do you have any clue how much I wanted that as a kid? I loved taking pictures, but couldn't afford film developing. As a bonus, my phone takes better pictures than many of the old cameras I've used. I happen to take pictures of manhole covers when I'm out, at least when I can make them interesting. I share my artwork, that I make on paper, on the internet using my phone. I have access to so many things. Lots of people can teach themselves "adulting" now, especially cooking. On their phone. Before I had my tablet, I used my phone in the kitchen. Wasting life? No. You just aren't seeing the joy these piece of technology bring to others and disregarding the things the phone has replaced.
narimiran 7y ago
> so you can send and receive text messages How about not reading messages while you're driving? And why do you have to write messages while in traffic? Can't this wait?
- RandallBrown 7y ago
  You're not reading them with CarPlay or Android Auto. The car reads them to you. Also, speech to text writes them. There's no keyboard.
- bitwalker 7y ago
  The whole point is that you are neither reading or writing them, they are read _to_ you, and you dictate messages if you feel the need to reply while driving, but both can be done with hands on the wheel and eyes on the road. I suppose it is up for debate whether just the act of listening or speaking is distracting enough to be considered a bad thing.
  - tetrep 7y ago
    It is. Car conversations are a serious issue with respect to distracted driving. I personally can't handle thinking about driving safely and thinking about a conversation. Humans are famously bad at multi-tasking and I don't see how being in a car gives us magical powers. I thought I had read a study about talking to people in your car versus drinking, but here's a similar one with talking on a phone versus being drunk: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/16884056/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/16884056/
    - celticmusic 7y ago
      If I'm speaking with someone in the car and I detect a potentially dangerous situation, I immediately stop talking to focus. It's hard to explain, but I would say my attention is unfocused and broad. I don't know if this is ultimately safe, but I've never had an issue with it.
      - 7y ago
black6 7y ago
> Guess we should go back to paper maps Knowing where you’re going before you take off is generally a good idea. A paper map may not be the solution—pulling up an online map and figuring out your route before getting in your vehicle is one way and what I tend to do. I routinely see locals plug local destinations into their navigator-of-choice, though, so expecting people to know the lay of the land these days may be a bridge too far. God forbid there is construction or an accident and you have to improvise!
Izkata 7y ago
> So you can use your preferred maps app in your car, so you can choose music using your favorite music app, Get a dock for your phone and use bluetooth for the audio. (Or line-in, except headphone jacks keep disappearing...) > so you can send and receive text messages without taking your eyes off the road. Holy fuck no. Don't encourage this. Taking your eyes off the road is only one symptom of the problem. The problem is splitting your attention. There's a TV show where they demonstrate this most years, Canada's Worst Driver. The challenge is to drive in a circle on a track. Talking on the phone - not ever looking away from the road - is enough to start veering off the track.

Fredej 7y ago

Well, it's a thing specifically to stop people from fiddling with their phones.

alex_anglin 7y ago

Maps and audio (music/podcasts) are the two main reasons I use carplay. Built in options in all vehicles I've used since carplay has been available are horrible in comparison.

briandear 7y ago

Maps. Podcasts. Apple Music: “Hey Siri, play <whatever you could imagine>” Having your next appointment automatically show up in Maps ready to simply click “go.” Or “Hey Siri, where is the nearest In and Out?” It’s amazing.

IOT_Apprentice 7y ago

Why? because the automaker interface is AWFUL. Also, why should I pay a car dealer upwards of $2500 to gain GPS? My phone has GPS, it also has Siri so I can talk to it.

TomVDB 7y ago

It's a thing when many car manufacturers want you to pay a monthly subscription just get simple map updates for their already very crappy maps application. It's a thing when when all your music is already on your phone.