10 Years Later, iPhone Creators Worry about Smartphone Addiction
During a panel at design firm IDEO, three former Apple employees gathered to discuss the iPhone’s impact after 10 years. All agreed that they’re concerned by society’s addiction to smartphones. “I don’t feel good about the distraction. It’s certainly an unintended consequence,” said Greg Christie, who led Apple’s human interface team. Bas Ording, who designed much of the iPhone’s multi-touch interface, said, “The positive is that it’s easy to use, so a lot of people can use it. The downside is too many people are staring at their phones. I probably do it, too.” And input engineer Brian Huppi, who helped develop the iPhone’s touchscreen, worried about how smartphone use is implicated in automobile accidents, saying “I’ve got to believe there’s just so many accidents on the road now from people looking at their phones.” However, there was also consensus that the iPhone has been as significant of a change as radio, television, and the Internet were, and that we’ll eventually adapt to it.
We will all adapt to it our own individual ways; within the mass of public adaptation. I tend toward the iPad, also used as a phone, and to keep up with revolution in health and learning. Eg. Babbel languages...
I've proposed to Apple that they offer a mode like Airplane mode, but call it focussed or calm mode.
Reduce the iPhone to a core set of apps, user selectable. Eg, Phone, iMessage, Music, Mail. Turn off and hide all other apps.
Set via a schedule / location based set of alerts.