For some reason I always notice and wonder, when I see somebody put their cellphone back into their purse or pocket with the screen still lit and unlocked and active, and maybe even an app still open. It seems like getting out of a car with the motor running and transmission in drive, or winding up the garden hose and wandering away with water still spraying out of the end.
We are supposed to turn the screen off so touching it doesn’t do anything, before we put it away. Aren’t we? Doesn’t skipping this step make the phone do stuff without you?
That’s probably mostly it. Add to it that more often than not, nothing happens so people have no reason to change.
I turn it off, but it’s mostly muscle memory. I just naturally push the button as I’m putting it in my pocket. Often times I’ll end up turning the screen back on, but since there’s a lockscreen, it just turns off a few seconds later.
Also, I don’t use this feature, but my phone does have an ‘accidental touch’ feature that’s supposed to prevent key presses from doing anything while it’s a pocket or purse.
Yeah, I had an ongoing issue with my phone doing random stuff when I was working outside because my leg would get sweaty and it would trigger the screen. One time I was working on my car and I did a butt dial, except instead of dialing a number I didn’t intend to it launched Facebook and posted about 35 vampire emojis on a friend of a friend’s beach vacation photo album, full of bikini photos.
After that I set my phone to lock immediately when the screen goes dark and I always lock it before putting it in my pocket. That was pretty uncomfortable to explain to my wife.
I have a leather case (sleeve) that I keep my phone in. Sliding it in there turns off the screen. It freaks me out to see people running around with screens completely unprotected-- in their pockets, on tables and countertops, on car seats. Ack! And I see a fair number of cracked screens, too. Duh.
I’ve found that most people don’t know much about how their smartphones work and don’t bother to find out. Me, I’ve always been a reader of instructions and manuals. I want to get my money’s worth from my gadget, whether it’s a toaster oven, a can opener, or an insanely expensive smartphone. <shrug> YMMV.
If you think I’m suggesting some kind of moral judgement or something, I’m not.
Engineers design phones according to some mental picture or programmer’s model of how the user uses them. I think in this picture engineers suppose that the user disables the screen inputs before putting the product into an environment where screen contacts are random and uncontrolled, using a press of the power button. (Note, I did ask whether I was correct in thinking this.) Similarly, engineers suppose users expect to be able to keep using the same phone day to day rather than buying a new one each morning – otherwise there wouldn’t be a way to charge it. Now, users have the freedom to replace their phone daily, and the maker might be very pleased if people started doing so. But it’s not part of the engineer’s picture of how users use the product. That’s what supposition is about.
Since the screen turns itself off, I’d argue they designed it knowing that most people would forget to press the button much of the time. This also explains why the power button is not always in a convenient location. Or why it’s called the power button, not the screen button or the sleep/wake button.
I have an iPhone 6s. Pressing the Power button just keeps it on. Not doing anything allows it to turn itself off. If I press the button long enough I get Siri.
it used to drive me crazy when my wife does this. She’s not a lazy person, but she never shuts off her screen (and she wonders why her battery life isn’t great). I don’t think she has her settings right either, so it doesn’t go off for quite awhile. I’ve decided it’s not worth arguing about. She’s otherwise perfect in every way. Except, she also leaves her iPad on and open for hours while not in use. She doesn’t have it set to go dark. She has set it that way in the past, but it doesn’t hold for some reason. If I see it, I’ll close the cover (which turns it off) but, again, not my iPad, not my problem.
I was sitting across from a guy on the train the other day. He had his phone wedges between his legs, on, so that the screen was illuminating his crotch. I thought of telling him that Trump said it causes cancer…
I’ve never given this any thought. My screen turns off very quickly, but I also use a belt holster that the phone clips into. This protects the screen from unwanted contact, so I always just clip it back in place and go.
