Center for Online and Internet Addiction - Help and Resource for Internet Addicts, Healthcare Professionals, and Corporations dealing with Internet ab

Well while I am at it, I should add a link to the current state of this research, just in case. Center for Online and Internet Addiction - Help and Resource for Internet Addicts, Healthcare Professionals, and Corporations dealing with Internet abuse. This is a link to an article by Kimberly Young on "what makes the Internet Addictive" (also from 1997). However, the rest of the site may have more up-to-date information.

What is "Normal" Internet Use?

What is "Normal" Internet Use? - another article on the same subject, written, by the looks of it, in 1997. Hmmm... 1997 was a big year for Internet addiction and classifications of "normal" use. Hmmm... at this point it is quite amusing to read these articles. A good cautionary tale for future research eh?

Internet addiction research.

In my search for something else, I stumbled on an article from 1997 describing research by Dr. Kimberly Young on Addiction, Posted on TechWeb . Suffice it to say that at the time, APA did not grant "disorder status" to Internet addiction despite what the article claims. There are many reasons why this particular research is somewhat flawed, although many agree that there is such a thing as "overuse". Just take a look at the questions at the bottom... :)

Company Wants Lampposts To Provide Wireless Access

"British company Last Mile Communications plans to provide high-speed wireless networks and location-based services using street lampposts. The company wants to not only make lampposts into wireless access points to the Internet but also install flash memory inside the lampposts and store information about local pubs, coffee shops and retail outlets. Last Mile is working with security company Qinetiq and expects trials at undisclosed locations later this year. (Source: CNet News)"

Hmm... I missed the "blog this!" button haven't I? well... last one for this morning, and it has to do with lampposts that will not only shed light in dark moments, but provide location based information and internet access to hapless travelers. I am not sure whether this is cool or just silly... but if this does work, this will do wonders for location-aware privacy-enabled services developed by Jason Hong's Placelab.

Schools Send Truancy Texts

"Parents in Scotland may soon receive unhappy text messages from their children's schools. Schools are beginning to send text messages to the phones of parents whose children have not showed up at school. Schools and parents are very supportive of the system. (Source: BBC News)"

Heh... I BET parents and schools are very supportive of the system. The overhead is appallingly small for the school administrators. The message can be received by any phone in Scotland regardless of where the parents are at the time. The amount of whoopass the kid will recieve is spectacular. Just another little moment of a change in perceptions of surveillance and connectedness. A small bend in the time/space conundrum and fewer kids enjoying self-imposed time-off from school. Some new life lessons will be learned and some will be missed. Go technology...

Choices and individuality

"New Rap Single Allows Users to Choose Ringtone Clip
A new first for the wireless industry – the new single "Baby" from rapper Fabolous will allow U.K. consumers to choose which part of the song they want to use as their wireless phone ringtone. The single, released by Warner's Atlantic Records, includes built-in software that lets listeners isolate any part of the song and put it onto their wireless phones. Previously, a music ringtone clip was pre-determined by record companies. Some analysts estimate the global ringtone market to be valued at more than $3 billion. (Source: Reuters)"

Choices are tricky. There are times when it is good to have fewer choics, others, when more choice is better. Wireless industry has been struggling with this idea for ages. Just how many options should a phone have? Or how much personalization capability? Nokia and Motorola, for example, have made very different decisions in this area (Nokia's phones are incredibly user friendly but there is far less personalization available in comparison with somewhat clunkier but much more flexible Motorola phones).

Whether or not it is good to allow choice and ability to individualize something, can be viewed from the point of view of differentiation of identity. Things like meals on the airline are not serious definitions of identity, which is why airline operators have figured out a long time ago - offering their passengers more food choices makes them less likely to actually pick anything. However, when it comes to individualization of something so tied to identity as a cell phone (a piece of technology always carried with us), it may be a good idea to allow consumers full reign over the choices of things like ring-tones. After all, in Europe and North America, individual expression is highly valued and ringtones often join in with the few clues to who a person is in a crowded public space. Your ring-tone may say as much about you as your choice of clothing or hair colour (fun thoughts for the high-self-monitor types).

A quote from one of my favorite movies symbolizes this drive for differntiation for me: "This snake skin jacket symbolizes my individuality and belief in personal freedom!" -- Sailor (Wild At Heart, by David Lynch)

Cingular Wireless and Verizon Wireless Agree to Share

"Cingular Wireless and Verizon Wireless agreed to allow their wireless subscribers to swap photo mails and other mixed-media messages with each other. The two carriers reportedly account for 93 million of the 180 million wireless subscribers. (Source: CNet News)"

In a brilliant move of foresight, the two wireless provider giants have finally decided to allow their customers exchange media messages. This follows the innovation of a several years ago, when the companies reached agreement to allow their customers exchange text messages. Recent reports on Verizon's site showed a serious slump in the use of the camera phones it offered. People bought the phones but few used the data services and 3G offerings that came with it. Even Verizon's effort to lock it's users of bluetooth phones out of the ability to transfer anything but the phone book via bluetooth, effectively forcing them to pay for the use of companie's data services anyway, did not help matters. It is concievable, that allowing customers of rival companies to exchange media messages would encourage more use of data services for camera phone users.

Seriously though, text messaging was a rare and largely unused and unadvertised cell phone utility for many years here in the US. However, several years ago, there was a large serge in both use and advertisement of the feature. This corresponded with At&T and Verizon reaching agreement to allow their users to text between providers. Why? Well, most people in this country select wireless phone providers less on what their friends use and more for convenience sake. Try texting once or twice to a friend, it doesn't work... why bother figuring out why? Limiting text messaging to just within provider quickly rendered the utility useless for many people. This largely unadvertized limitation put breaks on creating a critical mass of users that would have helped push for a wide adoption of the technology in the country. I am amused that it took Verizon and Cingular so long to realize that the same fate awaited media messaging unless there were to reach an agreement quickly.

Readers?

Over the last month or so I've discovered that there are actually people that read this blog. Quite honestly I was a little shocked. Now I am compelled to apologize for dropping the frequency with which I post lately. I've realized that this had to do with my switching from using Internet Explorer to using Firefox as the main browser. See, I initially started blogging because the Google Toolbar had this nifty little "blog this" button. This was, of course, under the pretense of - I simply need a convenient way to store links together with some ideas I have about them. Judging by the size and nature of my posts, this is not entirely the case, but hey...

Well, Firefox does not have this button and Google does not have the Toolbar for Firefox. Turns out, my blogging frequency was in large part dependent on my using the "blog this!" button. Go figure... However, there are a number of things I have been MEANING to write about. I am currently extremely busy, which means I will need forms of structured procrastination. Blogging is a form of such that I can do at work (cleaning is the one I do at home). So I promise more interesting tid bits on cell phones, all things mobile and all things new technology coming soon.

"Wireless Handset Manufacturers Focus on Design"

"Wireless handset manufacturers are finding new ways to make their wireless handsets sell. Some manufacturers opt for fashion and design, while others design wireless handsets that incorporate the newest technologies. According to research firm Gartner, wireless phone technology is beginning to stabilize, which forces manufacturers to consider other elements such as design. (Source: Reuters)"

There are wireless manufacturers who make stylish phones, cool looking phones, latest-gadget phones... Then there are wireless providers... who fuck with those phones.

I just found out that Verizon Wireless has introduced several bluetooth phones recently. However, in order to keep their revenue streams in order, they have disabled the ability to transfer files and pictures from the phone to another phone or a computer via bluetooth, forcing everyone to use the Verizon network and pay huge fees for data charges. In most areas where Verizon's high speed data networks do not exist, this is a painfully slow and ultra expensive process (regardless what Andrew Seibold might be saying). This little tweak has inspired several people I know to switch companies.

Verizon tends to be a bit of an evil money-monger. To my knowledge, they are the only company to charge their customers for incoming text messages regardless of the originators of these messages (apparently even if they are mis-sent or come from advertisers). Yes 2c per message is nothing... but it's a little more evil then that. When you buy the SMS-plan with 100-200 messages. The incoming messages count the same as outgoing messages, effectively making these plans much more expensive than the same plans at Cingular for example.

In fact, I now think Cingular is a much better choice (in terms of far friendlier customer service, better phones and more intelligent pricing structures) since the company merged with AT&T wireless and expanded their network, making it the largest network in the country. Of course, if you mainly travel in metropolitan areas and want really cheap data prices, go with T-Mobile. T-Mobile offers the most affordable data/voice package in the business right now (or at least this was the case 6 months ago).

I am curious, however, about Verizon and why the company is counting pennies at this rate. Will the users kick back and move to other providers or will that be too much of a pain? Of course, 2-year plans are insidious as they seem to go on forever, extending every time a minor change is made (without notification of the customer usually). I wonder... how long will it take for Verizon to feel the penny-pinching biting it in the ass? Or will the consumers sheep-along as usual?

Wireless Phones Become Fashionable

"Fashion designer Anna Sui announced the debut of the Anna Sui Mobile by Samsung. Sui designed the limited edition version of Samsung and T-Mobile's e315 camera phone. The wireless handset is purple with rosettes, a butterfly and a dangling charm. Samsung has collaborated with Vogue Magazine to launch the product in an 8-page advertising section of the magazine's March 2005 issue. (Source: The Mercury News) "

why thank you Mercury News for this little bit of revelation. Turns out, cell phones are becoming fashionable! Watch out! Have you been to Asia lately? Cell phones are fashionable and, even in the US, they have been jumping on the wave of not only "cool gadget" but also fashion.

This afternoon I was in a coffee shop when I noticed a teen-age girl at a table next to me chatting away on her phone, legs propped up on the chair across the table. Her companion, patiently waited for her to finish her call and drank his tea in silence. The girl was what one would typically expect from an american teenager - glittering lip gloss and hair in a pony tail, cheap shiny jewlery, cryptic words and numbers written on the back of her hand in blue ink. She was dressed in pink - pink top, pink and gray pants, sparkly pink sneakers, pink sweatshirt draped over the chair. In her hand she was holding a Motorola phone, equipped with a sparkling, baby-blue face-plate. The phone obviously did not come in this color, this was an accessoiry buy, which matched nearly perfectly with her outfit and manner. There was a little charm dangling off the strap-loop: a hello-kitty trinket. Everything was pastel and sparkling.

In San Francisco Chinatown you can get your phone engraved. It helps if the cover is of very hard shiny plastic or metal. You can get dragons and castles twining along the battery cover and framing the screen. It's a cheap job, but a friend of mine never mixes up her phone with anyone else. She also gets an impressive number of compliments. Same thing you might hear about a bracelet you wear or a particularily interesting watch.

A cell phone is an accessoiry... in view more often than many other things we wear that can be dictated by fashion. How can it just now "become" fashionable? Because Vogue said so?

While adults are lingering along the "fashion" path, accepting that their phones are personal items, similar in nature to watches or jewlery, teens picked this idea up so naturally, it's hard to imagine things ever being different.

The New York Times > Technology > Digital Rx: Take Two Aspirins and E-Mail Me in the Morning

In the Digital Rx: Take Two Aspirins and E-Mail Me in the Morning article, the New York Times describes adoption of email by both doctors and patients to communicate regarding minor health advice about existing problems, questions they may have about medication, etc. In fact, some health care providers encourage such interactions, paying doctors a near equivalent of an office visit. Doctors like it (and I can see why, most of them hate the office visits part of their job).

Use of the Internet for obtaining health information and support has been a topic of interest to research for several years now (although little has been written on this topic outside the support-group type literature). Of course, cutting down on the number of office visits may actually be beneficial because people can reduce potential exposure to negative elements and get sick less in the process. All of this sounds wonderful, but I wonder what provisions does HIPPA have for e-mail communication. I do remember having to sign a form at my doctor's office so that I could email him and request a drug refill. However, how long does this protection last? If a computer gets searched or hacked, what happens to this information? E-mail is very rarely encrypted (a bizzarre human behavior that some have been trying to explain for years), it is the equivalent of a postcard. Would you describe your medical condition on a postcard and send it in the mail? Probably not. So how can email be used in such a way where it will protect medical information while providing the convenience of such communication?

Technology has been implicated in many medicine-related uses in the news recently. Not too long ago Reuters reported on the use of camera-phones for making routine diagnosis of leg sores by Swiss doctors. Of course, such practice would never be accepted in the US (besides the fact that one does not really need to actually see the sores to make the right diagnosis, apparently). However, ability to transfer images and text may be an accepted use of technology for medicine soon (this may put at risk those of us, unfortunate enough to have exotic diseases masquarading as something else of course, but these are the chances we take). In a few years, not only would you be able to find others to ask questions about a particular symptom or disease, get emotional support from strangers, etc. You would also be able to ping your doctor about that refill he owes you, or whether it's time to switch the drug you are taking to something more or less potent. Digital age, here we come. So what happens to populations that do not have access to such technology for one reason or another? I suspect once the payment structure for such services is in place, doctors will put quite a bit of effort into encouraging this practice (they save time and don't actually have to chit-chat with their patients). The question, of course, remains, just how reliable will this system be, and how long until the first lawsuit.