4 ms·

That "or" is doing a lot of work. I have an ancient nokia dumbphone on which I receive or make ~1 call per day. The effect on my lifestyle is not comparable to

That "or" is doing a lot of work. I have an ancient nokia dumbphone on which I receive or make ~1 call per day. The effect on my lifestyle is not comparable to having a smartphone.

ianai 4y ago
Yes and in that context it’s surprising it’s not higher. More interesting would be the conditions of those without a cell phone. And probably error bars matter here more than usual. Like is this statistically different than 100%,99.9%,etc?
- TheDong 4y ago
  > More interesting would be the conditions of those without a cell phone The largest demographic without a cell phone is the 65+ age group. Only 61% of the people in that group have a smart phone. My guess for the condition of those people? Elderly people living in nursing homes, possibly not mentally able to learn enough to use a smartphone, or possibly happy to just use a tablet for apps and games, and a dumb phone for calls. Honestly, if you're so old that you only rarely leave the house, then an iPad and a landline already is almost as good as a cell phone is, since you'll always be close enough to your wireless phone in your small nursing home or house, and the iPad covers all the actual uses of smart phones just fine (tiktok, whatsapp, playing candy crush, checking email... which I think is 100% of the usage of smartphones, right?)
  - kleiba 4y ago
    I think only a small percentage of the 65+ group lives in nursing homes or rarely leaves the house.
  - defrost 4y ago
    My 87 year old father doesn't have a cell phone as they rarely have signal coverage when he goes out to maintain his section of the nearby 1,000 km walking track. He does have an EPIRB and paper maps though. Sounds like you just don't meet many elderly people.
  - wirrbel 4y ago
    I have set up smartphones and iPads for my parents, who spread this among their retiree friends. There is a gap in technology adoption especially with those elderly people who don’t have kids or close younger family. So there is this one couple who saw that my parents were using iPads and so they learned that one could use these even at their age. Fast forward a few years and the husband of that couple is firmly into Q anon
  - prmoustache 4y ago
    The thing is many elderly people have problems using touch screens. Many need mechanical buttons. Not sure if it is a physical or psychological problem.
- wongarsu 4y ago
  About 0.5% are incarcerated and thus shouldn't posess a cellphone (though they can still own one that's unreachable to them, what does this study exactly mean by "own"). A lot of the rest is probably older people who only use a landline, people in nursing homes, etc.
  - shpx 4y ago
    Googling "cellphone prison" I get a bunch of articles saying that "almost everybody has a phone" in prison. https://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/03/us/03prisoners.html https://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/03/us/03prisoners.html https://www.forbes.com/sites/walterpavlo/2020/04/19/will-cell-phones-be-the-downfall-of-prisons/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/walterpavlo/2020/04/19/will-cel...
sw104 4y ago
Smartphones don't necessarily have to have an effect on somebody's lifestyle. It's what people install and use on their smartphone which makes the difference.
- AlecSchueler 4y ago
  Still I've never heard of anyone with a smartphone who only takes it out for a daily call.
  - sw104 4y ago
    It still doesn't change the lifestyle if you use it as a utility. If you use it for consuming content, then sure. But using a phone for the odd phone call, message, map check, translation, calendar, tickets (bus/train), rides (Uber), doesn't make your lifestyle worse, only better. Unfortunately dumbphones can't handle even some of the more basic utilities, or if they do, they use a significantly worse interface (number pad keys) which makes it all take longer.
pxmpxm 4y ago
> The effect on my lifestyle is not comparable to having a smartphone. reply That states more about your self control than anything to do with the type of phone you have.
- throw_pm23 4y ago
  I'd like to believe that, but a few years ago when I did have a smartphone, I constantly felt an impulse to check this or that on it. Now at least that gets postponed until I get to a computer.

That "or" is doing a lot of work. I have an ancient nokia dumbphone on which I receive or make ~1 call per day. The effect on my lifestyle is not comparable to having a smartphone.

ianai 4y ago

Yes and in that context it’s surprising it’s not higher. More interesting would be the conditions of those without a cell phone. And probably error bars matter here more than usual. Like is this statistically different than 100%,99.9%,etc?

TheDong 4y ago
> More interesting would be the conditions of those without a cell phone The largest demographic without a cell phone is the 65+ age group. Only 61% of the people in that group have a smart phone. My guess for the condition of those people? Elderly people living in nursing homes, possibly not mentally able to learn enough to use a smartphone, or possibly happy to just use a tablet for apps and games, and a dumb phone for calls. Honestly, if you're so old that you only rarely leave the house, then an iPad and a landline already is almost as good as a cell phone is, since you'll always be close enough to your wireless phone in your small nursing home or house, and the iPad covers all the actual uses of smart phones just fine (tiktok, whatsapp, playing candy crush, checking email... which I think is 100% of the usage of smartphones, right?)
- kleiba 4y ago
  I think only a small percentage of the 65+ group lives in nursing homes or rarely leaves the house.
- defrost 4y ago
  My 87 year old father doesn't have a cell phone as they rarely have signal coverage when he goes out to maintain his section of the nearby 1,000 km walking track. He does have an EPIRB and paper maps though. Sounds like you just don't meet many elderly people.
- wirrbel 4y ago
  I have set up smartphones and iPads for my parents, who spread this among their retiree friends. There is a gap in technology adoption especially with those elderly people who don’t have kids or close younger family. So there is this one couple who saw that my parents were using iPads and so they learned that one could use these even at their age. Fast forward a few years and the husband of that couple is firmly into Q anon
- prmoustache 4y ago
  The thing is many elderly people have problems using touch screens. Many need mechanical buttons. Not sure if it is a physical or psychological problem.
wongarsu 4y ago
About 0.5% are incarcerated and thus shouldn't posess a cellphone (though they can still own one that's unreachable to them, what does this study exactly mean by "own"). A lot of the rest is probably older people who only use a landline, people in nursing homes, etc.
- shpx 4y ago
  Googling "cellphone prison" I get a bunch of articles saying that "almost everybody has a phone" in prison. https://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/03/us/03prisoners.html https://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/03/us/03prisoners.html https://www.forbes.com/sites/walterpavlo/2020/04/19/will-cell-phones-be-the-downfall-of-prisons/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/walterpavlo/2020/04/19/will-cel...

sw104 4y ago

Smartphones don't necessarily have to have an effect on somebody's lifestyle. It's what people install and use on their smartphone which makes the difference.

AlecSchueler 4y ago
Still I've never heard of anyone with a smartphone who only takes it out for a daily call.
- sw104 4y ago
  It still doesn't change the lifestyle if you use it as a utility. If you use it for consuming content, then sure. But using a phone for the odd phone call, message, map check, translation, calendar, tickets (bus/train), rides (Uber), doesn't make your lifestyle worse, only better. Unfortunately dumbphones can't handle even some of the more basic utilities, or if they do, they use a significantly worse interface (number pad keys) which makes it all take longer.

pxmpxm 4y ago

> The effect on my lifestyle is not comparable to having a smartphone. reply That states more about your self control than anything to do with the type of phone you have.

throw_pm23 4y ago
I'd like to believe that, but a few years ago when I did have a smartphone, I constantly felt an impulse to check this or that on it. Now at least that gets postponed until I get to a computer.