The Awesome and Cool Poll Thread - Poll #131: Would you pay more taxes if it meant receiving a pension when you retire?

[Ray502]

I went with occasionally useful. I don't own a smartwatch (regular stainless steel Timex watch is what I own), but from what I've seen on the commercials they seem to be somewhat useful.

[Harpic fraîcheur]

Smartwatches and smartglasses are useless. Why would I even need technlogy when I have the Great Flying Poo sharing me his knowledges?

[Ambidextroid]

I wouldn't find them useful considering I have a phone which does everything a Smartwatch or Smartglasses could do, and if I had one rather than a phone I would miss the conveniences of a comfortably sized screen and all the other features which can't be implemented on something small and wearable. In their current form at least they look more showy than practical.

[Ray502]

Well, it has been a while since I've seen the Apple Watch commercials on TV, but I'm sure there is a feature for exercising. It's very accessible, as it's on your wrist so it can easily be looked at to track your progress like steps (jogging/running) and stuff like that, compared to a phone where it's in your pocket and you have to stop and then look at it. Not really a huge difference, but it does have at least one advantage, maybe even more.

[Master]

I think Smartwatches are a bit of a niche, but I think they've gained popularity moreso as fitness trackers. As for smartglasses, they seem to have fallen by the wayside, a bit of a pity, but with the rise of VR and AR, I think they might have some uses in the future with visualisation.

[Adsolution]

My friend has a Glass, and issue isn't that it doesn't work, it actually can be useful at times, it's that absolutely no one is going to wear them if they make you look like a dumbass, which they do currently.

[R4Y_ANC3L]

They look useful. But to me, it is a waste of time buying those things.
I don't need those little gadgets when WOPF is enlightening me with what I need to know already.

[Ray502]

I know it's a little early, but here's a (hopefully not crappy) suggestion for the next poll.

Do you prefer slow tempo, mid-tempo or up-tempo music?

EDIT: here's another one:

How much do you care about your physical appearance?

[Adsolution]

i like the second one

[Keane]

i like the 2nd 1 2

i forgot about this poll, i wanna know who voted yes on this

[Master]

So you could say, you're curious about it?

[PluMGMK]

Well, three declared their vote on the thread, is that not enough for you?

Anyway, I like the suggestions but I want to do this one first before it slips my mind again…

[Ambidextroid]

I don't see any reason why, though I don't have the experience to see what the problem might be as I didn't want a phone until relatively recently.
Still I'd think the primary use for smartphones these days is browsing the web/watching videos etc. which I can't see a problem with.

[PluMGMK]

I almost don't feel qualified to speak on this because the world seems to have changed unimaginably since we were children. However, as someone who was programming (VB) at the age of 6, I find the notion of cutting off access to any form of technology for youngsters to be stupid and backwards. But as for banning them in schools, sure. In my experience phones have always been banned in schools.

[Adsolution]

What the hell? This isn't your thread, you set up the polls we vote on. You should've suggested this one earlier if you wanted it first. Now you just caused a week-long delay.

I voted no, because phones were never banned in the schools I've gone to (though that's only talking high school and onward since smartphones didn't exist before). The teachers used to say to leave them in your locker, but stopped after phones kept being stolen from lockers (mine included). If nine-year-olds are gonna have their iPads sitting on their tables next to their work, that's obviously probably not going to work, but saying that isn't allowed isn't the same as banning them.

[Ambidextroid]

I didn't see the option about school but I still would have chosen no as I use my phone in school every day, either to keep track of my lessons and homework or to listen to music during lessons (which I'm not saying is necessarily a good thing to allow anyone to do but it doesn't pose a distraction for me at least).

What the hell? This isn't your thread, you set up the polls we vote on. You should've suggested this one earlier if you wanted it first. Now you just caused a week-long delay.

It's not actually a rule that the polls are suggested first, the first polls were chosen by the host and suggestions came in when they ran out of ideas. Then again I do think the suggestion was more interesting, but it's hardly a delay...

[Keane]

>_<

No, banning anything potentially addictive always comes back to "should we ban fast food?"; to which everybody says no because everyone understands that it's a matter of personal responsibility and the government shouldn't be dictating whether we're capable of doing so, much less punish people who are perfectly capable.

As for schools, you can have rules without outright banning anything. I'd rather they teach kids to learn some impulse control and know when to put them up than to just take them away and then let them go nuts when they move higher up in school. That's pretty much happened to me, I went from a middle school that had teachers confiscate phones just for ringing to a high school where almost none of the teachers cared if you were using it during class. Obviously I missed a couple lessons because of that.

[PluMGMK]

Hmm. Nobody ever did set out any ground rules for how I (or Master or Ray) should run this thread. Of course, it was originally the idea that I (or Ray) would decide all the polls but then like Ambi said I ran out of ideas. So I guess yeah, it's no longer fair to expect others to bow to my whims. All I can say is that it makes me uncomfortable to receive poll suggestions when another poll is running, even if I don't have an idea myself for the next one. But yeah, that's no excuse, so I'll be more considerate if that happens again. Apologies. This wouldn't happen if I kept a written list of poll ideas instead of having them all in my head, now there's a novel idea…

[Master]

While I think we need to ensure that folks aren't too dependent on smartphones, I don't think banning kids from it will be of much use. I'd imagine ways to go round it would come into place anyways.

I agree with potentially limiting access to certain apps or sites, and I think work does need to be done on determining the best means of raising kids given the prominence of smartphones. But banning them outright just seems counterproductive, especially since they have their uses when it comes to organisation and self-management.

EDIT: I don't know what current poll suggestions are, but I'll throw another one in the ring. Here's something that seems to be a bit of a hot topic: https://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/ ... sh/1458472

[Steo]

They used to be very strict when I was in secondary school about bringing a camera phone into the building. The rule was you can have a phone as long as it's switched off and in your bag and it doesn't have a camera. It was like 2006-2007 obviously they all had cameras like you would have been laughed at if you had a phone without a camera

Think they also said if they confiscated one they had to look through the pictures to make sure you didn't take any of them. There was murder over that rule and also the one where they said they take the phone for a whole week which had the principals office thrashed and her car rammed by a crazy angry parent

What sad weirdo wants to take pictures of their teachers anyway especially without them knowing about it

Sad thing is we weren't even kids we were teenagers