If you had offered someone in 1916 a device that they could put in their pocket that would let them instantly communicate with nearly anyone on the planet, tap into a large fraction of the world's knowledge base, read books, navigate across the country, take photographs and movies, and play almost any song ever written, what do you think that person would say?
"No thanks." ?
The smartphone is one of the most significant inventions of the last 100 years.
Smartphones are one of the greatest inventions of humanity. That they democratize access to information about the unfortunate state of the world is a different matter.
Of all our technology, I truly think the smartphone is one of the most impressive and futuristic things ever invented. It’s the kind of thing Star Trek thought was hundreds of years in the future and that most sci-fi failed to imagine. It is individually transformative in a way that space flight will probably never be. Our information tech is likely to continue racing forward and this current moment will look analog in comparison.
Smartphones (still) offer novelty, and there are no alternatives to some of their useful functions, hence popularity. I’ll be livid if smartphone-type devices are popular a century from now.
Smartphones are basically computers in our skulls, a radical shift in human existence from not looking at computers for most people to being tied to one for hours a day. You can pretend the world isn't rapidly changing but that's just a bias to living in the present. Of course we haven't invented fantastical physics defying devices yet but the technological difference between now and 1970 is just as start as the one between 1910 and 1960, just in different ways.
I hope that you are joking, since this is a classical "first world" problem.
Smartphones are behind the Internet the greatest innovation in the last 2 centuries.
Never before have we as a species become more connected, and never in the human history has been so much abundance and opportunities for people of all sorts of backgrounds.
He gives you a complete story and background behind the smartphone revolution.
One of the examples is the smartphone penetration in Africa, more people in Congo have smartphones than they have canalization, and for good reason. People are using their devices as a bank account (since a lot of banks refuse to service these areas), farmers are using their devices to compete in more marketplaces.
There are so many positives by technology and smartphones, that I cannot fathom that someone would go around and spread opinions that the harm outweighs the benefits.
Privacy and "social media disease" are unimportant compared to the benefits they give, you think my mother would rather give up social media because of Facebook tracking than be able to talk to her own twin brother who lives 3 countries away and sees her 2 times a year?
Counterpoint, 20 years ago smartphones didn't exist. Now it's been nearly impossible to work without one for around a decade. Technology can move quite fast sometimes.
Smartphones are useful but 15 years ago really weren't the Dark Ages because no one had a modern smartphone in their pocket. Even 25 years ago--before most people had cell phones at all--really weren't wither.
Yes, I carry and use a smartphone. But it's a convenience. I don't need to reach people or have them reach me wherever I am. I don't need GPS at all times. I don't always need instant access to information.
I think my opinion of the smartphone is completely opposite of yours. The smartphone is one of the few products I have bought that has actually made a meaningful and positive impact on my life. When I stop and look at my smartphone it brings a smile to my face because it still amazes me that I have such a powerful and capable computer in my pocket.
I'm reading more than at any other moment in my life before because I'm able to fill boring downtime by firing up the Kindle app. My long car rides are made more enjoyable because I can listen to podcasts and audiobooks. I can design circuit boards, find directions to a restaurant, read wikipedia, browse reddit and snap a photo to share with friends at a moments notice.
In short, it helps me lead a richer life. Having access to the sum of human knowledge in my pocket is amazing.
Exactly. Current type of smartphones (they're not first ones) were invented about 11 years ago, and people got so incredibly addicted and dependent on them it's incredible... It's as if smartphones are literally (and I do mean literally) a vitally important part of life.
I don’t think that’s an apt comparison. The smartphones of today allow us to do things unimaginable to people in the 80s.
This startup doesn’t seem to be creating any new use for the technology in your phone, just changing the way you interact with it from a glass screen to a projected screen on your hand or countertop.
I think you are underestimating the technological advancements required to make the smartphone you are holding in your hand today. From processors to batteries to screen and radio technology.
We were always "dependant" on everything a phone does. We've always needed directions. We've always needed to communicate with friends and family. We've always needed to manage our finances, buy tickets, listen to music, take photographs, read and watch media, keep up with the news, look at porn and use a fucking calculator.
I don't think it's the phones at all, I think it's the companies that are abusing our phones as they vy for our attention and data and money. But a smartphone as a baseline concept is the single most useful tool anyone has ever owned.
"No thanks." ?
The smartphone is one of the most significant inventions of the last 100 years.
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