Article from Yonhap News
KAIT survey shows more effort needed to return lost phones [to owners] instead of buying a new one.
Smart phones that have taken their rightful place as a necessity for the modern person usually come at a high cost of around 500,000 – 1 million won. Yet when they become lost, there are a surprising number of people who easily give up hope [of finding their phone] and go out to buy a new one.
KAIT’s (Korea Association for ITC Promotion) cell phone finder call center surveyed 1,869 people about lost phones. The results showed that the majority, or 56.1% (1,049 of those surveyed), said it would be difficult to wait more than one week for a lost cell phone.
16.1% (301 people) said that they could wait over a month [to get a lost phone back], but compared to the rest this answer was chosen the least.
This is the result of the past-paced modern lifestyle that makes it hard to imagine life for even a day without a smart phone.
If we consider the societal costs of purchasing a new phone and the risk of personal information leaks from lost phones, it becomes important to put more effort into finding lost phones before going out to buy a new one.
When a phone is lost, the owner must quickly contact their service provider and report it lost so the service can be cut off. The sooner a phone is reported missing, financial losses can be minimized.
After reporting a phone missing, the service provider can offer a temporary replacement for the customer’s convenience.
On phones with an Android operating system, all one needs to do is try using Google’s GPS service to locate a phone. On the Android OS, there is no need to download a special application.
A phone’s location can be checked online by logging into one’s account at the Google Android device manager website (www.google.com/android/devicemanager).
Another way to avoid information leaks is a quick and easy fix. Simply set the phone to lock [with password protection] and also utilize the phone reset option. To do this, the user must go to the settings in My Device Manager and activate the respective features.
Another way [to find a lost phone] is to use the Cell Phone Finder Call Center (www.handphone.or.kr). The center connects the owner of a lost phone with those who find a lost phone by connecting with post offices, police stations, and lost item centers nationwide.
The phone owner just has to give their name, birth date, and phone number for the center to check if their cell phone is registered there. If the person who found the device has reported it, it takes about 2 weeks to be processed and returned to the owner.
For now, cell phone users can prepare for such an event by pre-registering their cell phones. If the phone is found and reported, a “cell phone echo” report is sent by e-mail.
Comments from Naver:
solt****
There is a certain tone to it by saying “it’s difficult for Koreans to go more than a week without a cell phone.” For high class reporters like you, would you be going to work without having any of your contacts for a week?
outj****
The rate of finding a phone is 0.1%. You’re saying we should waste our time?
humt****
Let’s see the stats for how many times this Lost Items Center actually gets the stuff back to its owners… It’s primarily the person’s fault who lost the phone, but you know how much high-priced smart phones circulate around the world, so that system probably isn’t getting a lot of stuff back. It looks to me like this article is awkwardly trying to make this an issue about [smart phone] withdrawal on the part of those who lose their phones.
tnt9****
If it’s just one week I can deal keke
pyja****
hehe nobody can handle that… I could handle not having [a phone] but what if someone else is using it… what if the information [on it] is stolen. Someone else could be using it too… hehe
nohs****
Hey reporter, if you lost your phone right now, and your editor was trying to find you, what would you do?? Would you whine about that you lost your phone so you can’t take calls?
dlck****
kekeke Let’s try taking away this reporter’s phone first keke
zeul****
This article reminds me of those old articles saying they are about a study of violence in games but then the “study” is just done on people in PC rooms.
band****
“There’s a need to try to find the lost phone instead of buying a new one” kekekekeke That guy thinks it’s just a matter of effort~ they didn’t try hard enough so these people [go buy a new phone]? Even if you go to the police station to report it, and cut off your service, [that phone] is already in China….. *sigh* what a naive reporter. That reporter writes likes it’s so easy.
line****
Reporter, could you go without a phone? Let’s say you go to find it when it’s lost – have you ever done this? You’re really the greatest……
gots****
People just lose their minds the second they lose their phone~ When we all had 2G phones [our lost phones] were usually returned.. [but] smart phones have a higher rate of immigration to China…. it’s so obvious it’s gonna be lost forever so now it’s worse
wjda****
It’s not that we can’t live without [a phone], it’s that it’s required for work. What kind of reporter are you anyway, going on about over half of Koreans are becoming [phone] addicts? Frankly, if all you have is a flip phone you can get by – making a living and working means you need to have a phone, so what the hell was that reporter thinking when he wrote this?
milk****
Do you think someone like you could find their phone in this country?
gktm****
When I wasn’t working, I would just wait if I lost my phone, but now since I work when I didn’t have my cell phone I got in trouble.
bean****
You gotta be more careful when writing these kinds of informative articles. There’s no fact checking, it seems like you just guessed and then wrote it. That source you used is also not complete, if the study and statistics would’ve been written about correctly, it wouldn’t be so far from what’s really going on. [The study] should’ve asked why people don’t think about finding a lost phone and started from there. There’s always a reason for every outcome, but here you only criticized the outcome. This doesn’t make the cut for a critical response.
4535****
I don’t think this reporter has ever lost a smart phone. If you’ve spent a few days already trying to find a lost phone, it’s [already] gone forever.
zota****
[When you lose your phone,] suddenly you can’t do any work.
dlbs****
Be it a week or a month, there’s barely any chance the phone will be located so you gotta get a new one.
v_vm****
If I find a cell phone, I give it back [to the owner], but once I gave a phone back to some 20 year old and said to come get it, I got this phone call [with this kid] cursing at me and the mom was at first like what are you talking about, then later never really said thank you at all. They say if you meet the parents you can understand the kid… Even if I try to be nice I get treated like a potential criminal.
ntgy****
If you locate the phone using GPS, it’ll probably show up as being in the Yellow Sea. kekekeke
