[culebron]

As Paul Graham noticed earlier, computers became something like TV on the working desktop, smartphones are even a more danger. I hope in my lifetime I'll see something new to displace smartphones/tablets and make them look old like TV now, and be less dangerous and less addictive.

[todsul]

Isn't this a product of long commutes and sedentary living? There are only three times when I feel compelled to use my smartphone:

  * When in a train/bus/car
  * When I need directions
  * When I feel like a game of chess

Further to this, my smartphone is also useful for:

  * It's alarm clock
  * Looking up facts over discussions away from home/office

I noticed my need for a smartphone dropped dramatically when I stopped commuting. I don't have push email (on purpose) and so I don't check email every time it beeps. After a month of this, I lost the automatic urge to check email.

I would do without a smartphone except for the maps function. I could buy a dedicated GPS, but the additional features, having web access anywhere, chess (trivial), alarm, push the smartphone ahead.

Get rid of your car, don't live in a sprawling city, walk places: problem solved.

[bonzoesc]

I'd much rather see something new to make driver-operated motor vehicles seem old and impractical. Smartphone usage by a passenger on a bus or train doesn't pose a constant lethal threat to everyone on the road, merely a threat of inconveniencing the user when they miss their stop.

[iaskwhy]

Can you imagine something as popular but less addictive? I wish I could...

[culebron]

No I can't :) But some societies have quit drinking hard or smoking, so getting off a widely accepted addiction is possible.

[iaskwhy]

And that happened because those things have some very visible bad effects (images of cancer all over packages in Europe) and even then there are like 30% smokers on my country. Assuming shock and visible pain are the only way to end such a popular addiction it's going to be tough to end our digital ones.

But at least you showed it's possible, that's something!

[ern]

Smartpones can already detect that you are travelling above a certain speed on a public road and display a notification that texting while driving is dangerous. Not something I would endorse (too many false positives), but I wouldn't be surprised to see it, either as a result of a law, or as a voluntary "enhancement".