In the decade gone by, the portable phone has changed the way, Live smart!
Ten years ago in 2007, Apple launched the iPhone, pushing the mobile phone into a 'smart' new era that went beyond voice calls and text messages, to a touch-sensitive, Internet-connected lifestyle. Come January 2018, it will be 10 years since the first devices, fueled by the free system, Android, made the smart phone a mass market tool, affordable by millions.
In the decade gone by, the portable phone has changed the way we shop, learn, bank, relax, plan travel, connect with family and friends. It has erased boundaries between work and play. Your office is where ever you can plug in. Techies enjoy the luxury of often 'working from home', but this has led to an inability to ever detach from work.
According to a recent study, by McAfee — "Digital Detox" -- of the holiday habits of Indians, more than half of respondents (52%) said they spend at least an hour a day while on vacation, using their connected devices. Thirty-eight percent could not last a day without checking either work or personal email and 37% checked social media at least once a day. More than half (54%) could not spend 24 hours without texting. We now realize the harm from junk food. What about junk information? The phone, it seems, has taken over our lives. It is time to wrest control back.
Motorola, the makers, 44 years ago, of the first -- and at the time, relatively unsmart -- mobile phone, have taken the lead in helping people achieve a better phone life-balance. They recently conducted an India-wide survey of phone usage and entrusted Professor Shyleswari M. Rao, Director, Ved Vyas Inner Space, Chennai and Dean-Consultant of the Indian Society of Applied Behavioral Science, New Delhi, with analyzing the findings. During Diwali 2017, Motorola recorded and put on YouTube a revealing video of how Indians never let go of their phones, even amidst all the festivities.
And to help us prevent our phones from gate crashing into the best moments of our lives, there is now an app called Offtime for Android, which lets you track and customize your connectivity (and limit phone usage) so you can do the things that matter. it encourages you to unplug, focus on your work, have quality time without distractions with the people you care about, or simply enjoy some peace of mind. The app will help you, over a chosen period, to block calls, texts and notifications that might disturb you. You can however select the people who can still get through, say family members or in an emergency. It will also alert you when you exceed your own preset limits on smart phone usage.
In an age of hyper-connectivity, it is time to disconnect, a little!
—IndiaTechOnline
