Difference between revisions of "2223: Screen Time"

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If Cueball's non-screen time went up by six percent from last time, then his previous time was about two hours and thirty-eight minutes looking away from the screen. Maybe the app is his way of trying to improve his non-screen time percentage.
 
If Cueball's non-screen time went up by six percent from last time, then his previous time was about two hours and thirty-eight minutes looking away from the screen. Maybe the app is his way of trying to improve his non-screen time percentage.
  
The title text takes the idea of a screen time app to the next level, describing a "shoe time" app for how much time people spend using their shoes. It's unclear what the practical use is for such an app indicating <i>total</i> time wearing shows, as there is little controversy about the prevalence of shoes in our society.{{Citation needed}} An app that tracks the amount of time wearing specific shoes could be more useful, for example, to a person suffering medical problems from wearing high heels too much.  Possibly the point is that use of phones have become so constant in our lives that using them for many hours a day is as unremarkable as using shoes for many hours a day. Perhaps since it's the socks that are bluetooth-enabled, they are reporting negatively about almost constant obstruction by shoes, whereas the socks would prefer to report a much lower "Shoe Time" score.  Some cultures have the custom of taking shoes off when in the house, so those people would boast lower (and presumably more favorable) "Shoe Time" scores.  It may also be a reference to the "Shoe Phone" on the television show "Get Smart".  (If Maxwell Smart wore these socks, they could track his phone usage, because his phone was in his shoe.)
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The title text takes the idea of a screen time app to the next level, describing a "shoe time" app for how much time people spend using their shoes. It's unclear what the practical use is for such an app indicating <i>total</i> time wearing shoes, as there is little controversy about the prevalence of shoes in our society.{{Citation needed}} An app that tracks the amount of time wearing specific shoes could be more useful, for example, to a person suffering medical problems from wearing high heels too much.  Possibly the point is that use of phones have become so constant in our lives that using them for many hours a day is as unremarkable as using shoes for many hours a day. Perhaps since it's the socks that are bluetooth-enabled, they are reporting negatively about almost constant obstruction by shoes, whereas the socks would prefer to report a much lower "Shoe Time" score.  Some cultures have the custom of taking shoes off when in the house, so those people would boast lower (and presumably more favorable) "Shoe Time" scores.  It may also be a reference to the "Shoe Phone" on the television show "Get Smart".  (If Maxwell Smart wore these socks, they could track his phone usage, because his phone was in his shoe.)
  
 
==Transcript==
 
==Transcript==

Revision as of 21:30, 3 November 2019

Screen Time
These new Bluetooth socks are great, but it's troubling to learn that I average almost 14 hours of Shoe Time a day.
Title text: These new Bluetooth socks are great, but it's troubling to learn that I average almost 14 hours of Shoe Time a day.

Explanation

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Cueball is reading the weekly report from an app on his smart phone, that reports the average time each day that he has NOT looked at his phone during the hours he was awake this last week. His average of looking at other things than the screen is 2 hours 48 minutes. Given that most people are awake at least 16 hours a day, he is looking at his phone screen for more than 80% of the time he is awake. And as noted this is 6% less time than last week.

The pun of the comic is that the app now gives the time he is looking at other things, rather than the time he is looking at his phone, which would be the usual way with such apps today.

Today, people spend much of their time looking at the screens of their phones, tablets, computers, and other devices. This has caused controversy, with many people arguing this leads to addiction, other health risks, or simply people not talking to each other. There are apps available to help manage the time people spend on their devices. But this comic parodies these apps, suggesting that the problem is so bad, that it would be easier to track the time NOT spent on these devices. Of course, the irony is that you have to look at the screen and/or pay attention to your device in order to use that app, so it's yet another app designed to keep your attention on your device.

Like many screen time apps, this comic compares this week's non-screen time to the previous week, saying that the user has increased 6%. Many screen time apps also do this, where a negative percentage is desirable. A possible benefit of this app is that positive is desirable, which could be considered more intuitive.

If Cueball's non-screen time went up by six percent from last time, then his previous time was about two hours and thirty-eight minutes looking away from the screen. Maybe the app is his way of trying to improve his non-screen time percentage.

The title text takes the idea of a screen time app to the next level, describing a "shoe time" app for how much time people spend using their shoes. It's unclear what the practical use is for such an app indicating total time wearing shoes, as there is little controversy about the prevalence of shoes in our society.[citation needed] An app that tracks the amount of time wearing specific shoes could be more useful, for example, to a person suffering medical problems from wearing high heels too much. Possibly the point is that use of phones have become so constant in our lives that using them for many hours a day is as unremarkable as using shoes for many hours a day. Perhaps since it's the socks that are bluetooth-enabled, they are reporting negatively about almost constant obstruction by shoes, whereas the socks would prefer to report a much lower "Shoe Time" score. Some cultures have the custom of taking shoes off when in the house, so those people would boast lower (and presumably more favorable) "Shoe Time" scores. It may also be a reference to the "Shoe Phone" on the television show "Get Smart". (If Maxwell Smart wore these socks, they could track his phone usage, because his phone was in his shoe.)

Transcript

[Cueball is looking down at his phone. The text is what he reads on the screen, as shown by a zigzag line emanating from a starburst at the top of the phone.]
Phone: Screen time report:
Phone: While awake, you averaged 2H 48M per day looking at things other than your phone. That's up 6% from last week!
[Caption below the panel]
At some point, it starts making more sense to track non-screen time.


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Discussion

Hello? Oh, sorry, I was busy not looking at this screen. -boB (talk) 15:35, 1 November 2019 (UTC)

I'm at work, but I just realized I need to lower my Show Time score. My socks are demanding it. -boB (talk) 19:31, 1 November 2019 (UTC)

I think my use tracking apps (yes, I have more than one) can be set to track how much time I spend using use tracking apps. 162.158.214.148 20:37, 1 November 2019 (UTC)

With apps like Automate, you can automate most of the use cases for use time tracking apps; it'll just take some time to learn how to use it.  ;S
ProphetZarquon (talk) 01:21, 2 November 2019 (UTC)

If I didn't arranged meeting using phone, I wouldn't have any people to talk to. Also, some of those complains are mixing up cause and effect: for example, in mass transit, people generally don't WANT to talk to other people, and before phones they usually read newspapers or books. In fact, that was already mentioned here wasn't it? Or did I mixed up 1227 with [1]? -- Hkmaly (talk) 00:12, 2 November 2019 (UTC)

The explanation incorrectly mentions that Cueball's screen time has lowered by 6%, while it's actually his non-screen time that has raised by 6%. That's not the same thing: if we do assume he's awake 16 hours per day, his screen time has only decreased by about 1.2%. 172.68.245.151 03:56, 4 November 2019 (UTC)

That is, unless Randall meant 6% of Cueball's entire awake time. I haven't thought of it until after posting. 172.68.245.151 03:59, 4 November 2019 (UTC)
A better approximation of non-sleep time would be 17 hours per day. Average sleep time in USA is a little under 7 hours/day. I adjusted the percent of day awake calculation accordingly. 108.162.246.59 00:05, 5 November 2019 (UTC)
No, 6%. It actually specifies "While awake.". Randall already thought of that. :) NiceGuy1 (talk) 04:22, 8 November 2019 (UTC)

Clearly someone doesn't know what the word "pun" means (see paragraph 2)

The mention of Bluetooth socks reminded me of the Netflix Socks that automatically pause playback if you fall asleep. http://makeit.netflix.com/projects/socks (Sorry if the link is broken, Netflix is blocked from work.) 172.69.62.166 14:44, 4 November 2019 (UTC)

In case anyone else is confused, Neatnit has been inserting the discussion section on display problems with Google ads from Comic #2220 in all later comics using a wiki tag, so that discussion section and any changes to it on Comic #2220 are reflected on these later comics. I'm guessing it's because the problem has persisted since #2220, so this is an attempt to maintain a single discussion and keep the issue visible until there's a resolution. If this is not the reason, then it's confusing and disruptive. If it's a meta-joke about going back in time, then it's getting old. Ianrbibtitlht (talk) 21:03, 1 November 2019 (UTC)

Yes, that's right - it's to keep it visible. I should have been more vocal about it rather than just doing it silently... My bad.
However, the section's [edit] button will take you to the correct place, so it shouldn't be that confusing.
--NeatNit (talk) 12:38, 2 November 2019 (UTC)

Does Randall draw XKCD on his phone? How does the amount of non-screen time he reports compare with the tme he spends cartooning?

Does Randall draw XKCD on his phone? How does the amount of non-screen time he reports compare with the tme he spends cartooning?172.69.34.150 00:29, 3 November 2019 (UTC)

I think he draws it on his computer, or using some type of drawing pad -Donthaveusernametalk