VOXOX Blog

Leaving the house without a full iPhone battery is unimaginable for some of us (especially for you Voxox Call users!), but sitting around waiting for a charge isn't always possible. If the thought of being off the grid due to a dead smartphone gives you an anxiety attack, maybe it's time to harness your body's own energy to power your devices!

Do you ever find yourself  mid-phone conversation without a clue what you're saying uh huh to? Do you give vague answers or shy from the truth when a conversation turns awkward? Do you fib or embellish a little to make your conversations more exciting? If you answered yes to any of these, you're not alone!

With all the ways we interact and share information in this digital era, we have developed unwritten etiquette for varying types of social interaction. Norms on one social site may be taboo on another and face-to-face interaction can provoke different emotions than less personal communication like email, but did you ever think one outlet could make you more or less honest than the next? As crazy as it sounds, a  recent study from the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research shows that this is in fact the case.

So, what makes us spill the beans? A few years ago we might have agreed that a few too many glasses of Pinot Noir would do the trick, but now-a-days it's something more common than happy hour -- it's texting.





According to the study, in which researchers compared respondents' answers to questions texted to them versus those asked to them in a phone interview,  people are more likely to disclose sensitive information via text message.

"This is sort of surprising," Fred Conrad, leading cognitive psychologist in the study says. "Many people thought that texting would decrease the likelihood of disclosing sensitive information because it creates a persistent, visual record of questions and answers that others might see on your phone and in the cloud."

Not only were people more likely to tell the truth via text, they were also found to give more precise answers. Researchers believed this is because with texting, people are not under pressure to give an answer -- there is no one standing in front of them or waiting on the line for a response -- giving them more time to arrive at more accurate answers.

"We're in the early stages of analyzing our findings," says Michael Schober, a professor of psychology involved in the study. "But so far it seems that texting may reduce some respondents' tendency to shade the truth or to present themselves in the best possible light in an interview."

Are you more honest when texting? Voxox minds want to know if you're more candid on one form of communication versus another!  Comment here or post on our Facebook page -- no fibbing!

It's true, (yes, this information is straight from a Nielsen survey so it must be trustworthy, right?) and not very surprising, that Facebook is reigning king of the social media sphere. In most countries, Facebook is the most widely used social network by a long shot, but lately it's beginning to see some competition in places like Brazil and Japan as other sites like FC2 and Orkut are scooping up users and creeping on its turf.


Although America's Facebook addiction is right on track with a majority of the globe, according to the infograhic below, we're still a little behind in other areas. While the rest of the world seems to have knocked MySpace, a once widely used social site that is now a hub for musicians and entertainers, off their radar, more Internet users in the United States have a MySpace account than a profile on the professional networking community,

There are a few things in life we all (or most of us) love, crave, and sometimes need, like chocolate, coffee and well... um, you can fill in a few blanks here. However, according to a recent survey commissioned by TeleNav, Inc., a good number of us would be willing to go without these guilty pleasures for a week rather than give up our cells for the same duration of time.

Before you tell us what you'd be willing to give up in order to keep tabs on our phone, let us blow your mind with these interesting stats and survey results:

Picture courtesy of bgr.com /2011/08/03

So what's it going to be; chocolate, sex, shoes, coffee? (If you work at Telcentris, creators of Voxox, it probably isn't coffee!!) Let us know which precious pleasure you would give up for a week in order to hang on to your mobile phone...


Find out how your friends rank, share this on Facebook and Twitter!

Did you ever think that the number of hours you spend watching TV could be directly correlated with your income level? What about your Internet browsing habits or which type of cell phone you have? According to a recent study Affluent Consumers in a Digital World, the economic gap between wealthy and economically less fortunate Americans affects more than just how much money is in their pocket, it changes the way they consume media.

Fact: 43% of teens report that they have experienced some form of cyberbullying in the last year.*

School isn't all about number 2 pencils and Trapper Keepers anymore, people. A new wave of education is upon us. At one time universities were considering banning laptops and smartphones from class, but maybe technology in the classroom isn't as distracting as some professors would like to believe.


According to a recent infographic from OnlineEducation.net, students are growing increasingly attached to their gadgets but they're not just playing Angry Birds and texting, they are using high-tech tablets and devices to optimize their learning experience. Check out this infographic to see how some college level classes are embracing social media, not shunning it, and how digital assignments are increasing engagement and generating a positive response from students:



Infographic Source – Adapted from OnlineEducation.net/students-love-tech


Now, we want to hear from you...


How do you use technology to be more productive? Do you think gadgets in the classroom are useful or do you think technology is distracting? Tell us what you think here or on the Voxox Facebook page!

You're at a job that requires you to be on the Internet 8 hours a day, so why do you experience pangs of visceral yearning  to check notifications via your smart phone while sitting in traffic and then again 35 seconds after you've walked through your front door? Why do you feel anxiety and the beginnings of  a full-on tantrum when your browser isn't loading fast enough? Our need for connectivity and constant stimulation has made the Internet our #1 companion and nemesis.

As the Internet is increasingly replacing almost everything in our lives, from TV, to radio, to books, to classrooms, to doctors, to the need to interact face-to-face with other humans for absolutely any reason at all, we're using the tool more and more, and according to scientists quoted in a recent CNN article, our brains are starting to show the effects. Technology feeds the human brain's natural desire for instant gratification, fast pace, and unpredictability, so it's only natural that we are easily drawn to the Internet, right? Not so fast.

The worry is that constant online interaction is giving us what researcher and professor with the Information School at the University of Washington, David Levy, calls " popcorn brain" -- a brain accustomed to the constant stimulation of electronic media and multitasking. This constant online stimulation can activate dopamine cells in the main pleasure center of the brain, leaving us feeling elated and alert.

WALL-E - chud.com

Although this sounds like a good time, our online multitasking habit is actually depriving our brains of rest, which it needs to process things, and it is also negatively affecting our abilities to read human emotions.

Clifford Nass, a social psychologist researcher at Stanford, says, "Human interaction is a learned skill, and they (online multitaskers) don't get to practice it enough." Nass reported that when he showed online multitaskers pictures of faces, they had a hard time identifying the emotions they were showing. This same group had difficulty identifying emotions and stating ways to improve the moods of characters in stories he read to them.

It's obvious, and scientifically proven, smartphones and online media are quickly reducing our need and ability to interact with other humans. WALL-E is no longer an inconceivable vision of the future, it is a very real (OK, exaggerated) representation of the present. If you think you're losing the fight against Internet addiction, spending too much time on your devices, and are feeling the kernels popping in your brain as you read this, maybe it's time to give Voxox a try and rid yourself of communication overload once and for all.