4 ms·

Right now, I can't get my android phone to start car mode without having navigation on (i.e. no directions, just big buttons for other apps)

c0pium 3y ago
That’s working correctly. Stop looking at your phone while driving. Buttons on a screen are a bad idea and should be highly discouraged for drivers. Big buttons almost make that worse because of licensing, i.e. people see a thing labeled car mode and assume that means it’s safe to use in a car. Voice interfaces are generally safer, partly because of eye line but also because they significantly constrain the space of things your phone can do and thus use less attention.
- advisedwang 3y ago
  My phone is in a mount in my field of view - it requires less looking away than the built in touch screens new cars have in the center console. Car mode is safer: * It reads out texts to me, and asks me if I want to reply by voice. * car mode UIs means it takes less attention to skip songs or whatever. * It turns off some distracting notifications etc. They let you have these features when navigating, why not when you don't need navigation?
  - c0pium 3y ago
    That’s simply not the case. Read some studies, all of your assumptions here are incorrect. Eyeline is slightly correlated with safety when compared with a device you need to locate, however with a constant position device the effect disappears. The actual problem is cognitive load. Having your phone visible increases cognitive load even if you don’t use it. Composing text message by voice is equivalently distracting to typing one. Yes really, this has been rigorously studied. Texting by voice is only better than holding a phone and talking on it if you’re careful about using it in safer situations. And even then, the gains are pretty small. Using a touchscreen with large buttons has higher cognitive load than an equivalent voice interface, even accounting for misunderstandings. The key intuition here is that you have to decrease amount you think about or interact with your device. Stop looking at your phone, it’ll be there when you get there.
    - advisedwang 3y ago
      I'm sure you're right that using a phone (in any way) is more dangerous than not using it at all. If I am optimizing 100% for safety I should turn it off, sure. But some messages are important. I don't want to complete a hour long drive, just to find out that the message I ignored means I needed to return to my start point. Pulling off the highway every buzz isn't a solution either. Reducing cognitive load is why I want car mode to activate!
      - c0pium 3y ago
        Sounds like you want “ok google read my texts”. > Pulling off the highway every buzz isn't a solution either I don’t know if you’re American, but you’d make a good one. Putting small conveniences over others safety is kind of a national pastime here.
- TylerE 3y ago
  The problem is banning that is just gonna have people straight up going handheld, not putting the phone away.

c0pium 3y ago

That’s working correctly. Stop looking at your phone while driving. Buttons on a screen are a bad idea and should be highly discouraged for drivers. Big buttons almost make that worse because of licensing, i.e. people see a thing labeled car mode and assume that means it’s safe to use in a car. Voice interfaces are generally safer, partly because of eye line but also because they significantly constrain the space of things your phone can do and thus use less attention.

advisedwang 3y ago
My phone is in a mount in my field of view - it requires less looking away than the built in touch screens new cars have in the center console. Car mode is safer: * It reads out texts to me, and asks me if I want to reply by voice. * car mode UIs means it takes less attention to skip songs or whatever. * It turns off some distracting notifications etc. They let you have these features when navigating, why not when you don't need navigation?
- c0pium 3y ago
  That’s simply not the case. Read some studies, all of your assumptions here are incorrect. Eyeline is slightly correlated with safety when compared with a device you need to locate, however with a constant position device the effect disappears. The actual problem is cognitive load. Having your phone visible increases cognitive load even if you don’t use it. Composing text message by voice is equivalently distracting to typing one. Yes really, this has been rigorously studied. Texting by voice is only better than holding a phone and talking on it if you’re careful about using it in safer situations. And even then, the gains are pretty small. Using a touchscreen with large buttons has higher cognitive load than an equivalent voice interface, even accounting for misunderstandings. The key intuition here is that you have to decrease amount you think about or interact with your device. Stop looking at your phone, it’ll be there when you get there.
  - advisedwang 3y ago
    I'm sure you're right that using a phone (in any way) is more dangerous than not using it at all. If I am optimizing 100% for safety I should turn it off, sure. But some messages are important. I don't want to complete a hour long drive, just to find out that the message I ignored means I needed to return to my start point. Pulling off the highway every buzz isn't a solution either. Reducing cognitive load is why I want car mode to activate!
    - c0pium 3y ago
      Sounds like you want “ok google read my texts”. > Pulling off the highway every buzz isn't a solution either I don’t know if you’re American, but you’d make a good one. Putting small conveniences over others safety is kind of a national pastime here.
TylerE 3y ago
The problem is banning that is just gonna have people straight up going handheld, not putting the phone away.