When jacAPPS celebrated its fourth anniversary last month, it brought back memories of conversations I was having around that time with clients, friends, and family members when they’d see me whip out my iPhone (and before that, my Treo) at a restaurant or meeting.
Some would ask me,
“Why would you even want email on your phone? Do you really need that?” “Or do you honestly have to be checking sports scores all the time on that iPhone?”
And here we are, just a few years later, and there’s even more evidence that smartphones have not just provided a handheld conduit to the world, but that they’ve also changed our lifestyles and our lives.
And now our sleep patterns.
A new infographic about technology and sleep breaks it down for us. Consider that 9 of 10 18-29 year-olds sleep next to or with their phones in bed. Or that 1 in 4 doesn’t mute their phones before bed. And 1 in 10 reports being awaken at least a few days a week by cell phone emails, texts, or calls.
Check “yes” for me on all those dimensions.
And I would ask you this: how many of us in radio check the industry trade emails first thing in the morning? Maybe that’s a little TMI, but that’s my modus operandi during my morning visit to the bathroom. (Interesting that a few decades ago, many woke up and lit up that first cigarette of the day.)
Here’s something else to consider…
It wasn’t that long ago that the only media near the bedside was the alarm clock radio. Yet, Techsurvey8 showed that more than six in ten iPhone, Android, and BlackBerry owners use the alarm function on their smartphones; more than a third of “flip phone” owners do, too.
It’s another reason why one of the first features on our jacAPPS radio apps was an alarm clock that rouses you out of bed while your favorite DJ, team, or talk show host provides their morning entertainment.
We will be looking at other signs that smartphones have altered, warped, and morphed our lifestyle habits, and ways in which radio can adapt in Techsurvey9, fielding in late January.
As smartphones and their apps become more advanced, their ability to take radio to every location of our lives increases. The “connected car” is the next frontier, a topic that we’ll show you in depth with great perspective support at the Arbitron Client Conference later this week. I’ll have some great videos that were shot at CES and at the Society of Automotive Engineers “Convergence” conference here in Detroit. And Valerie Shuman, VP of Industry Programs for the Connected Vehicle Trade Association, will explain what’s happening in the space from her industry’s point of view.
But back to the bedroom, it’s the most private room in the house, and the place where smartphones are becoming as ubiquitous as alarm clock radios once were. Getting welcome content into these devices – as the radio industry trades are doing – is an important step for radio winning those all-important “first occasions” of the day.
Or the ones that occur in the middle of the night.
Jacobs Media has consistently walked the walk in the digital space, providing insights and guidance through its well-read national Techsurveys.
In 2008, jacapps was launched - a mobile apps company that has designed and built more than 1,300 apps for both the Apple and Android platforms. In 2013, the DASH Conference was created - a mashup of radio and automotive, designed to foster better understanding of the "connected car" and its impact.
Along with providing the creative and intellectual direction for the company, Fred consults many of Jacobs Media's commercial and public radio clients, in addition to media brands looking to thrive in the rapidly changing tech environment.
Fred was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 2018.
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While my smart phone dutifully resides in my bedroom at night, it’s on vibrate and never wakes me up. However, it screws with my sleep patterns in another way. It allows me to read in bed without the light on so I won’t disturb my wife. It also permits me to play non-stop Words With Friends. Thus I find I often stay up WAY later than intended, shaving precious hours off my beauty rest!
Watch out for the vibrate function! Seriously, Harvey, I believe your MO is becoming more common by the week. Thanks for chiming in.