I a$hamedly admit I have one, too.
Related: Globe Drones On About Consumer Electronics Show
Now I'm told "Afghan officials confirmed for the first time that the Islamic State is active in the south of the country, recruiting fighters, flying the group’s black flags, and possibly battling Taliban militants,"one day after an alliance was allegedly formed?
Folks, what I am seeing across my printed pre$$ is a full-court press of propaganda. The globalist psychopaths and the Zionist cabal have thrown all in!!! That can be the only explanation for the ferocity and over-the-top behavior and presentation by the ma$$ media. I mean, the war on terror and against Muslims was already receiving handfuls of reinforcing regurgitation every day, but the latest events have jumped the shark.
I would just like to take a moment to thank any and all who gave of their time to come here. I feel nothing is long for us now. WWIII and annihilation (along with the economic collapse that requires such cover) are before us. Time grows short, and many projects I had wished to get to will now be pout aside as we prepare for final doom.
Farewell, beloved readers. We shall see you on the other side.
"Need to unplug? There’s an app for that; New apps aim to help smartphone users retreat from their device dependency" by Callum Borchers, Globe Staff January 13, 2015
An old-fashioned “dumb phone” that can only make calls and send text messages.
Welcome to my world.
But what about Snapchat? Candy Crush Saga?
Yeah, what about "distractions of compulsion forcing me to think, ‘Do I really need to be [purcha$ing] this?’”
See: Snapchat raises $485.6 million
That did catch my attention, yeah.
Plenty of money out there. Wealthy are swimming in it, and a whole pile is spilling out of the pool to those well-connected and near (Wall Street kind of sour on Candy Crush; must not be enough money in it).
****************
So it’s come to this: We are so dependent on our devices that we even need them to help escape from them.
Who is "we?"
Digital Detach is among a growing number of mobile apps that use technology to help people unplug from technology, or at least put a buffer between their work and personal lives. People who resolved to make 2015 the year to be not-so-constantly connected can choose from dozens of downloadable services, from those that separate personal from professional communications, to those that can disable virtually all the functions of a smartphone.
Developers say they’re finding a surprisingly big audience for these aids. Kevin Holesh, a freelance app maker in Pittsburgh, stopped making new apps to work full time on Moment, a program he designed that monitors smartphone usage, after it became a big hit.
“The first version was downloaded like 100,000 times on the first day,” he said. “It just blew my mind. I’ve never seen 100,000 downloads on any other app I’ve worked on — probably all of them combined.”
Specialists say the emergence of these new tools reflects a culture in which the smartphone has almost become impossible to put down.
The truth is, I really do have a friend....
“We use narcotics to treat narcotic addictions, so it makes sense,” said David Greenfield, a psychiatrist and founder of the Center for Internet and Technology Addiction in West Hartford, Conn. “Our smartphones have conditioned us to check them on an almost irrational basis.”
I saw that and wrote TELL ME ABOUT IT! I know one, and nice guy but real rude asshole when it comes to that damn thing. Totally tunes me out when he's tapping away, and that is more than half the time I'm there. The guy was in a panic one day when he left it at home or something.
Greenfield and telecommunications giant AT&T published a study in November that found that 10 to 12 percent of adult smartphone users in the United States display symptoms of a compulsive behavior disorder. Roughly one in three admitted to feeling uncomfortable when they are without their smartphones for even a few minutes.
That's him! That's the guy!
I, myself, rarely take it anywhere unless I'm going on a trip outside of town, and rarely use it. The sound I here most is the alert to recharge the battery.
And, nearly two in three sleep with a mobile device in, or next to, their bed.
Nope. Not me.
For people who are clinically hooked on their smartphones, Greenfield operates one of the country’s few rehab centers that treat tech addiction much like alcoholism or drug abuse.
Oh, my, I $en$e an agenda-pu$hing ulterior motive to this promotional page-one feature.
He offers 20-hour outpatient therapy programs that include discussions about damage to personal relationships and development of a relapse-prevention plan.
Can't argue with him there.
Greenfield has been treating various high-tech addictions since the late 1990s, from video games to Internet pornography, but said he is seeing more patients than ever because mobile devices put temptation in people’s pockets.
Hi, my name is.... ooooooh, almost got me!.... and I buy and read the Bo$ton Globe. Help me!
At least two other facilities — reSTART Center for Digital Technology Sustainability in Fall City, Wash., and Bradford Regional Medical Center in Bradford, Pa. — run inpatient tech addiction programs.
For those seeking milder interventions, there are apps at their fingertips.
Isn't that part of the proble.... hey, they get you coming and going!
Turn that luxury (I do wonder how civilization even existed and reached this point without the tech gadgetry) into a nece$$ity, then treat the inevitable addiction (with a side trap door for NSA data collection and spying -- even though they can't catch the terrorists(?) for some reason)!!
Cambridge-based HeyWire got in front of the trend in spring 2013 with Business Messenger, an app that creates two communication channels on the same device to help users keep work life from interfering with private time.
The app enables smartphones to send and receive text messages from landline phones people use at work, so they don’t have to give out their cellphone numbers. It keeps those messages separate from personal texts, and provides an auto reply to tell business associates when they are off the clock.
“Yes, you could be always connected, but we definitely see the need for people to get off the grid, and they need technology-based tools to help them,” said HeyWire chief executive Meredith Flynn-Ripley. “We don’t take the hard-core stance of turning the phone off during non-business hours, and I don’t think the average business person wants that, anyway.”
Still that nuclear option exists. One of the most restrictive apps available is called Digital Detox, and it deactivates almost every feature on a mobile device. When the app is running, the only working function is 911 emergency dialing.
Users set the length of detox but, unlike with most apps, there is no easy way to tap out early. Without hacking skills, the only way to restore a smartphone early is with a factory reset, which wipes contacts, photos, music — everything.
The Digital Detach app that Thomas made doesn’t go that far. But unlike Digital Detox, which is free, Thomas charges $1.99 to download, figuring users will take their unplugging more seriously if they have to pay even a small sum.
“One thing I’ve noticed in myself is when I’m trying to start a new habit, if I put cash down I’m more likely to follow through,” Thomas said. “I want someone to come to that mental conclusion: ‘This is important to me, and I’m willing to pay a couple bucks for it.’ ”
The Moment app from Pittsburgh-based developer Holesh is free, although he charges for a family plan that tells parents how much time kids spend on devices, and lets them limit it. A three-month subscription costs $5.99, a year $19.99.
Holesh created Moment because he believed mobile devices were costing him and his girlfriend quality time together. The app doesn’t shut down any features; instead it lets users set daily goals for usage, such as 90 minutes of total app usage, monitors the time they spend tweeting and Facebooking, and sends increasingly pesky alerts as they approach or exceed their limits. “We’re definitely more conscious of our iPhone usage, which was always my ultimate goal,” said Holesh.
As he claimed this victory, Holesh was talking to a reporter on his iPhone, naturally. He was on the Hawaiian island of Kauai — on his honeymoon.
I stopped checking the "ha-ha" hypocrisy, sorry.
--more--"
Is it an elite paper or what? For, of, and by. No wonder I'm so, so sick of it.
