CAMBRIDGE, Mass.-The cell phone is the invention Americans hate most but cannot live without, according to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s annual Lemelson-MIT Invention Index study released today.
Nearly 30 percent of adults chose the cell phone as the most hated invention they cannot live without. The alarm clock was a close second, with 25 percent of adults choosing it, and the television received 23 percent of the votes.
“Cell phones have clearly been beneficial in terms of increasing worker productivity and connecting people with family and friends,” said Merton Flemings, director of the Lemelson-MIT program. “However, the invention index results show that the benefits of an invention sometimes come with a societal cost.”
MIT further pointed out that problems with inventions can open opportunities for more innovations. For example, MIT lab researchers said they plan to find ways to make cell phones more socially intelligent. “We are exploring ways to give these devices human-style social intelligence, which means that they would know what we as owners expect them to do, and especially what not to do, without our having to tell them explicitly every time,” explained MIT Media Lab researcher Stefan Marti.
