16% and 76%?

[mbarker]

Here's a fun bit from the news today. In some kind of sidewalk survey (no, they didn't go into details about how they got these numbers), the news people report that

Comments

[saruby]

Perhaps it is only that the 16% are excessively clumsy and have run into people multiple times. If they only asked "Have you ever run into someone while using your smartphone?" the answer would be the same for the person who did it once and the person who did it a dozen times. Poor question formation. Also, a very unscientific survey, I imagine.

I want to note here that I have never run into someone while using my iPhone (ok, a couple of close calls, but we didn't actually collide).

[mbarker]

Most of these sidewalk surveys are not very careful, but the results are fun. Number of collisions would be a good extension. I suspect part of the problem is that the close calls and brushes which the iPhone user brushes off or forgets almost immediately may be considered more irritating by others. There's also a bit of self-reporting bias here -- I may not remember running into someone, especially since that means I made a mistake, but all those other people probably remember every incident. Anyway, funny numbers.

[mbarker]

Yeah, the absorption factor is high. There was another part of this where they said something like 30 to 40 percent of the smartphone use now is twitter! I don't quite understand why someone HAS TO be reading and responding constantly, but I certainly see people doing it.

Maybe the next generation of smartphone will have "area awareness" so that the smartphone can warn you when you are about to step in front of a car? Or built-in "You are moving, please look away from the smartphone" warnings? Heck, our car's "car navigation system" refuses to let me do things while the car is in motion, why not add that to the smartphone systems? Wouldn't that upset the plugged-in users?

[mbarker]

You mean... look up and around, and actually take charge of our own lives? Yeah. It could work...