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August 27, 2013

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The People's Voice

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Orange. Phone Faced Down.

Israel – the Startup Nation – leads Europe and US in smartphone use. That is why, when we created the Phone Faced Down campaign, it had a great success all over the country. Radio and TV shows interviewed us and UNDIGITIZE.ME was covered everywhere in the offline and online sources.

Today we got another proof that the message got spread out. Orange – the most popular cellular network operator in Israel – has published a new video, using our exact message: “There are moments in life, when you should put your phone aside”.  Click here to see the video.

Orange. Phone Faced Down.

Orange. Phone Faced Down.

That was our dream when we first started UNDIGITIZE.ME – spread the word until the cellphone operators and manufacturers themselves will understand us, the users. Of course, it’s a commercial for their new network, but still, it shows that they are aware of our addiction.

If you wish to help spread the word in Europe – please vote for us – so we could speak in the Web Summit in Ireland. You can vote here: http://goo.gl/IMs8vF.

// Lior Frenkel

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August 18, 2013

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Kids

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Why Writing A Children’s Book is our New Project

Our kids are addicted to screens. TV, computer screen, tablet or Smartphone – kids can spend up to 75% of their day playing with one or the other.

Whenever I visit my nephews, I experience how strong this addiction can be. My 2 year old nephew is browsing the YouTube app on the iPad almost as fast as I do. Well, this is amazing, and I admire this little smart guy, but I have problems to communicate with him because his attention span is so short.

A few months back I started UNDIGITIZE.ME first and foremost for myself. I am addicted to the Smartphone, and I wanted to find ways to get my life back. The deeper I dig, I get to the real problems – and kids’ addiction to screens is one of them. Now, with the “Phone Faced Down” campaign, on family dinners we are no longer allowing the kids to play with any of the screens, and we see the change immediately. They cry and cry for half an hour, but then they get creative and play with us. So I get to know my nephew more and more.

But influencing my own family is not enough – I feel that I want to make a real change. I want more kids, and more parents get aware to the screens addiction. I want the message to spread – that is the whole purpose of UNDIGITIZE.ME. I want parents to discuss it with each other and with their kids. Understanding the good and the bad in the screens. What we can gain, but also what we lose when we are “screening” ourselves so much.

With that in mind, I’m ready for the next challenge – spreading the word to the kids. And what is a better way doing that, than creating a children’s book, that will inspire them – not preaching to them – to try and visit the world outside the screens a bit more. To explore the abundance in the physical world, more than they do today.

I will share this beautiful journey with you in the next few weeks and months.

 

// Lior Frenkel

To read more about kids and tech addiction, try Michael’s guest post.

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August 7, 2013

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The Future

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Do Nothing To Get A Free Beer

We rarely take a break.

Especially if you’re working in an office, you might be in a constant hurry. In the few minutes you’re not in front of the computer, you’re playing with your Smartphone. Never do you take a real break, a real pause. We are either slaves to work or to the Smartphone.

Amstel Pause is a super cool installation in Sofia, Bulgaria, that makes you do nothing, and in return you’ll get a beer. How awesome is that!
Unlike other installations that ask users to dance, pay attention or do stuff, Amstel Pause just wants them to have a three minute break. And to enjoy a cool beer afterwards.

Watch this video to get the gist of it:

Did it work? Yep…

For 16 days, working from 16:00 to 21:00 o’clock in the busy center in Sofia, Amstel Pause collected:
— 4,032 minutes of break or more than 67 hours of rest for different people;
— Average of 84 users per day;
— Total of 1,344 beers given to people who do nothing;

amstel pause undigitize.me

amstel pause undigitize.me

Well kudos to Amstel

It’s not the first time this brand is helping us to cope with our Smartphone addiction. Remember the cool wardrobes for mobile phones in bars?

I can’t wait for it to get to my city. I always preferred my beer with doing nothing at the same time. It’s bad for my diet, but really good for my Digital Diet 😉

// Lior Frenkel

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August 6, 2013

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Kids, The Future

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How to control your kid’s smartphone addiction

Editor’s Note: This is a guest post. Michael Gilin is a husband, father, telecommunications professional and blogger at Maveze. Fascinated by social media, amazed by technology, thinks he has valuable things to say and loves to share his observations and opinions with the world. You can follow his blogs here and here.

Michael Gilin

Michael Gilin

No doubt we live in a super technological era. And it’s a blessing. It’s what drives all the mankind forward into the future. But in some way, as every coin has two sides, it’s also a curse. Technology is making our lives easier in many ways, but also turns us to be quite dependent on it. It is changing the way we live, influencing the way we behave, altering the way we think. And if by “we” I mean mostly iY, Y and even X generations. You can only imagine the implications it will have on our children.

When I was a 4 years old toddler (in the beginning of the 80s), the most sophisticated piece of technology we had was a black-and-white TV set with manual knob to change the channels and adjust the brightness.

 

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August 5, 2013

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Uncategorized

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20% Are Using Smartphone During Sex

Looking at 1,102 participants, Jumio revealed that 9% of adults admit using their smartphone during sex. And 20% of adults between 18-34 admit to using it.

Other interesting numbers of smartphone use:

-35% in movie theater

-33% on dinner date

-32% at child’s school function

-55% while driving

-12% in the shower

-19% in church

Read more: http://www.jumio.com/2013/07/americans-cant-put-down-their-smartphones-even-during-sex/

Read more: http://newsfixnow.com/2013/07/15/online-dish-more-people-using-smartphones-during-sex/#ixzz2b4W6ZVOy

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August 1, 2013

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Smartphone Addiction

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Addicted to Your Smartphone? Infographic

Smart Phone Addiction - Lovelace

Smart Phone Addiction – Lovelace

Great infographic by Lovelace Health System

Sources:
Pew Research Center, Smart Phone Usage
Huffington Post, Smart Phone Addiction Time Survey
The Telegraph, Smart Phones Hardly Used for Calls
LA Times, Survey: 59% of People Would Reach into a Toilet to Retrieve a Phone
ESoftLoad, Smartphone Statistics and Side Effects

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July 25, 2013

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Smartphone Addiction

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Andy Bailey: Cellphone can be more a distraction than a tool

Andy Bailey is telling us how he felt when his smartphone was stolen on the way to a conference:

For the first 24 hours, I felt textbook withdrawal: I was anxious, disoriented and a little scared.

He observed himself for the next few days, and of what he named as Cellular Compulsive Disorder (or CCD). Then he got to some positive conclusions:

We can survive without our phones. I’ll admit, when I realized I was phoneless, I panicked. My travel tickets, hotel reservations, calendar and itinerary were all stored in my phone. Further, without apps such as AroundMe or Google Maps, how was I going to choose a place to eat or navigate in a foreign country?

After a momentary freakout, I regrouped. Turns out, airline kiosks can still print your tickets, hotels have your reservations on file, and you can access your calendar and itinerary from any computer. For restaurant suggestions or directions, I resorted to asking the locals — worked like a charm.

• The CCD afflicted are obnoxious. I began my 90-minute speaking sessions by asking the audience of entrepreneurs to turn off their phones. Sure enough, minutes later, I’d be at the crux of a point and a phone would ring. If it wasn’t a disruptive ring tone, I’d look into the crowd and notice several texters completely zoning me out….

• After my personal CCD recovery, I participated in more in-person conversation than I had in years. Since I couldn’t fill my extra time buried in the virtual world, I re-entered the real world. I met fantastic people, and our conversations delved beneath the surface. I experienced true engagement. It was a beautiful thing…

• A CCD-free life bolsters productivity. Although we all rationalize we can accomplish more with our contacts and reference materials in the palm of our hand, it’s not true. If you’re like me, and most I witnessed during my CCD-free week, you’re using your smartphone as a distraction rather than a work tool…

I recommend reading the full piece here.

Source: tennessean.com

// Lior Frenkel

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July 13, 2013

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Smartphone Addiction

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Many British Columbians Are Addicted To Smartphones

A new poll taken by Insights West in British Columbia, Canada, found some interesting stats on Smartphone addiction in BC:

  • 18% consider themselves “addicted” to their smartphone (3% an “unhealthy addiction” and 15% “a strong addiction, but manageable”), and another 43% consider it very important to their lives.
  •  Among 18-34 year olds, the addiction rate rises to 27% (compared to 17% of those 35-54 and just 3% of those 55).
  •  In an average week, these self-described addicts spend 2.5 hours a day actively using their smartphone (compared to 1.6 hours for those not addicted) and half (51%) check their smartphone at least once every half an hour (compared to just 24% of those not addicted).
  •  If they left home for the day without their smartphone, nearly all smartphone owners (76%) would return home to retrieve it – 31% would travel 10 or more minutes to do so.
  •  Smartphone users were asked to choose hypothetically between giving up their smartphone for three days, or from a series of other small sacrifices instead. Only 30% chose to “lose” their smartphone. A majority (56%) would prefer to give up Facebook for three days, and 17% would prefer to get stood up on a date.
    • Only 18% of younger (18-34 years of age) smartphone users would give up their device (compared to 26% of 35-54 year old smartphone owners and 57% of 55 years +). 70% would rather give up Facebook, 25% computer Internet, and 25% get stood up for a date.

See the full results of the poll here.

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July 2, 2013

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Smartphone Addiction

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Addicted to Your Smartphone? Here’s What to Do

We see more and more articles about Smartphone Addiction. Some contain tips for “how to stop” the addiction, but more times than none I disagree with those tips.

Susan Davis has published a post about Smartphone Addiction and what to do about that. The post is very detailed, acknowledging some research on the subject. And then there’s the “tips” section.

Your phone is beeping. Be strong, don't answer.

Yeah right…

Here are the tips brought there, and my comments on each of those, as someone who is practicing the Digital Diet on a daily basis, trying different methods:

  • Be conscious of the situations and emotions that make you want to check your phone. Is it boredom? Loneliness? Anxiety? Maybe something else would soothe you.

Well, that’s an interesting tip, as it drives you to think WHY you want to check your phone so much. A good exercise indeed, but I don’t know anyone who could “think” philosophically about those things 150 times a day when he wants to reach out to his phone. And “Maybe something else would sooth you” – is not a great tip IMHO for any rehabilitation process. Should I smoke or eat out of bordom instead of checking my phone ?

  • Be strong when your phone beeps or rings. You don’t always have to answer it. In fact, you can avoid temptation by turning off the alert signals.

OK. I always wanted to be strong. Rocky Balboa strong. But I don’t know how to be strong when my phone beeps. I just wanna check out what’s in there.

The second half of the advice is a super smart one, which I personally recommend – turn off the alert signals, and you don’t have to be strong anymore. You can just forget that your phone is there.

  • Be disciplined about not using your device in certain situations (such as when you’re with children, driving, or in a meeting) or at certain hours ( for instance, between 9 p.m. and 7 a.m.).

That’s a great tip indeed. These days when I get in the car, I put my phone into “airplane mode”, so when I’m in traffic, I’m not tempted to check my whatsapp. Same trick at night time, so when I wake up I don’t see those 20 notifications that delay me from starting my day with a great shower and breakfast.

Do you have a great tip for how to overcome your smartphone addiction?

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June 2, 2013

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UNDIGITIZE.ME Campaign

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Where The “Phone Faced Down” Campaign Started

Ten days ago, I uploaded the first photo for the Phone Faced Down campaign. That photo was taken in my favorite coffee shop in Jaffa, Israel – “Casino San Remo Cafe”, AKA “The Casino”. I went to sit there almost every morning, with my thoughts about the Digital Diet and how we can raise the awareness for this important issue. The reason I love this place so much, is not just because they know how to make a great espresso. It’s because the workers there are all young, passionate, smart and lively people. I was talking with them about the Digital Diet every day, we were brainstorming ideas, and thinking of concepts. Between taking an order, and serving another dish, I’d stop one of them for a moment, asking him or her what they think about this or that. And I always got their honest opinions, hearing their stories about iPhone addiction, getting some graphical advice.

Yonatan Ben Knaan, Cheer Leader

Yonatan Ben Knaan, Cheer Leader

I had four meetings there with Yonatan Ben Knaan – the first guy to join the team – where we talked and brainstormed endlessly about the Organic Apps, the Digital Diet, and about how musicians should ask their audience to put their phone in their pockets before the gig starts. A lot of this brainstorm is what led me to the Phone Faced Down concept. And many other great ideas are yet to be published.

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May 21, 2013

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Smartphone Addiction

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Developers Should Help With The Digital Diet

In the last few years I’ve developed apps for the iPhone. As a developer, you want your app to succeed, you want users to download it, use it daily, then make it viral. It’s super easy to connect your app to Facebook these days, and by that you can increase engagement of the users – you. You can also add push notifications, which means you are allowed to nag your user, whenever you want to, not thinking about where he is now, or what he’s doing.

Developers should take responsibility

Developers should take responsibility

I remember me and the other guys in our startup sitting around the table, thinking how to make people use our app more and more. But at the same time, our team was super fair and we didn’t want to spam users, just like we don’t like it when apps are spamming us. This kind of behaviour means being responsible. Not just thinking about number of daily downloads, and how many times a day the user plays with our app; we were thinking about ourselves when we thought of “users”.

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May 20, 2013

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Facebook Addiction, Junk Apps

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The Fear Of Missing Out – FOMO

You know that feeling, when you are working, studying, or stuck at your parents house, and you feel that you are missing out? That party you can’t go to, that friends gathering you passed because you wanted to watch TV, that friend of yours which is in the beach right now having fun…

Since I remember myself as a kid, I had the Fear Of Missing Out. I remember a specific Friday night when my parents insisted on taking me with them to their friends, and I missed that friends party. I was only ten, but I remember that day as if it was yesterday. I cried, and had a strong belief that after this missing out I will have no friends anymore… I thought about how much fun they have without me… how the girl I loved is in this very moment falling in love with another kid from my class. He got blue eyes, mine are just boring brown…

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May 16, 2013

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Phantom Ringing Syndrome

Two weeks ago I wrote about the fear of being without your phone, AKA “NoMoPhobia”.

Now, I always thought that I’m the only crazy person in the room, when I used to hear my phone ringing, vibrate or the sounds of various notifications – but it wasn’t! I’m hearing the familiar noise, pick up my phone, and nothing. It was all in my imagination.

Did my smart-shoe just ring?!

Did my smart-shoe just ring?!

I just found out I’m not the only crazy around. This sensation and false belief that the phone rang while in fact it isn’t doing so, is called “Phantom Ringing Syndrome”. It usually happens when you are concentrated on something, like watching TV, taking a shower or using a noisy device.

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May 6, 2013

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Awareness is Half the Way to Rehab

The WORD is out. People around me are chatting about the Organic Connectivity, and about the concepts of Organic Apps vs Junk Apps.

Some of them even started using their phones less and less, and they tell me they enjoy longer conversations with their friends, and better mornings. That is exactly what happened with my friend Shiran.

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Shiran, get off yer phone already!

Shiran is a super popular girl. She has 2,500 friends on Facebook, and I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s actually in contact with most of them. She’s writing a successful blog about fashion, and works for a PR company. Being social is the essence of her life and career, and that is why she’s an easy pray for the Junk Apps, for the “Likes” on Facebook and Instagram…  Shiran is also super intelligent, not one that is easily tricked. But she – like all of us – got hooked by the Smartphone.

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May 3, 2013

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My Digital Diet

frrr…. frrr… frrrr…

My alarm clock is running. It must be 8AM already. I grab my phone with two fingers, using a third one to turn it off with an elegant swipe gesture. My left eye is closed, my right is half open. My mind starts figuring out what appears on the screen. Notifications.

בוקר טוב גם לכן, נוטיפיקציות שלי

Right on, let’s start the work. What should we check first – the whatsapp messages? there are eight from The Friends group, they probably went for a drink whilst i fell asleep. Three more msgs from the girl I’m dating, well that could wait a bit. Facebook messages? could be from someone from the office, or from some old friend. Four new likes in Instagram for a picture I uploaded last night? Well that’s REALLY not important, but my ego wants it checked. And two more emails – wait a sec, it could be an urgent matter from the office, but oh, maybe it’s just spam… Next to all those icons, I see my To Do List icon, reminding me of today’s tasks.

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May 1, 2013

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What is NoMoPhobia

From Urban Dictionary:

No-mo-pho-bia (\,nô-mə-`fô-bç-ə\) noun : an exaggerated, inexplicable, and illogical fear being without a mobile device, power source, or service area.
Origin: Dubbed by British experts who claim that state that fifty-three percent of mobile users, with forty-eight percent women and 58 percent of men questioned in their study admitted to experience feelings of anxiety when they run out of a battery or credit, lose their phone, or have no network coverage.