Andrew Legra Emilia F. Grant ENG-1102 March 17, 2014 Tap That Touchscreen Its morning.

Ive awoken to the sound of my smartphone playing Samsungs Over the Horizon theme. Before the day is over, Ill have used this device to check my e-mail, browse the web, keep track of my personal calendar, talk via SMS, make phone calls, maybe get some directions, and illuminate the dark with the power of an LED flashlight, all on a single charge of battery. Sound familiar? Thirty years ago, this would have seemed to be something out of science fiction, but today its reality for hundreds of thousands of people. Mobile phones have progressed in leaps and bounds in just the last thirty years, and their proliferation sometimes brings about some undesirable and even dangerous quirks in society. But have they created some dependency on technology? To put it into perspective, the worlds first mobile phone, developed in 1973, provided just thirty minutes of talk time and took ten hours to recharge. By 1983, Motorolas first commercially available mobile phone cost $4,000. It wasnt until the late 1990s that mobile phones started becoming affordable and practical devices. Small handsets from manufacturers such as Nokia and Motorola, with their compact, flip-cover designs became common (Goodwin). These clamshell phones really were just phones: placing a call wirelessly was just about the extent of their capability. I was very young in the early 2000s, but I can remember the phones of that era, with small dot Legra 1

matrix displays capable of sending SMS messages and playing simple games (like Snake). I later saw these to be superseded by phones with color displays and even digital cameras, which I remember playing with back when they were cool. However, I note that during that time, there were few things of significance to do on phones besides placing calls, sending text messages, and playing simple games. Smartphones did exist before Apple entered the arena, but the iPhone series of phones that started in 2007, as Justin Meyers points out, was the first type to make a good interface (Business Insider). Interacting with a small touch screen became a gateway to a great many things beyond talking and texting, particularly the now pervasive app. I believe it most certainly introduced a massive scope of capability never before seen in a consumer handheld device. Ive found in my own personal experiences that smartphones can be a bit of an annoyance. It annoys me when my oldest sister visits home and spends half the time on her phone. Even while were talking or just sitting around, her face is often glued to the screen. She Facebooks, tweets, and plays those silly mobile games that make you buy premium currency to advance in the game. I typically consider it somewhat rude, and it raises the question of where the attention span of people has gone. My other sister incessantly spams her phone even while shes watching a movie or television show. How does she even follow whats going on? In addition, it is so commonplace that someone who finds himself waiting somewhere flips out his phone and does something on it to pass the time. I have nothing against that, but it seems many are unable to wait in any other way. Do people truly no longer have patience? Do they have to be constantly doing something or constantly being entertained to survive? Maybe Im Legra 2

exaggerating or maybe people just dont think much of it, but that is the general impression I get. I didnt have a smartphone until a few months ago, but I was always capable of waiting in one spot. I may be a bit biased though; Ive always been a patient person. I understand the appeal now that I have a smartphone. However, I cant say that I constantly feel the need to start tapping away. In fact, I mostly check just important things while around other people or in class, and save any miscellaneous mobile activities for later. I never had to experience it first hand, but that same oldest sister of mine, when she used to teach high school, knows that it was all too common to see students on their phones because they lacked the attention span to listen to a twenty-minute lecture. Whenever Im listening to a lecture, though, the professor usually has my undivided attention. While all that may very well degrade the countrys academic performance, what I find truly disturbing are the staggering numbers of motor vehicle accidents that stem from phone usage while driving. I honestly dont know how people text or otherwise use their phones while driving. For me, if I take my eyes off the road for more than just one second, I already feel unsafe, and I fully intend to keep it that way. Safe conduct on the road needs to be of the upmost importance; anything less is a gross irresponsibility. In light of our technology-oriented world, I sometimes wonder if this excessive use off mobile devices hasnt caused some dependency on them. When was the last time you looked at a paper map? Looked outside to check the weather? Do you even know any of the phone numbers of your friends or know how to spell without autocorrect many of the words you commonly use? Have you ever calculated a tip with some mental arithmetic? Itd be interesting to see what many people would do if they suddenly Legra 3

no longer had smartphones. Need to transfer some money? Lets hope you remember how to fill out a bank deposit slip or write a check. Lets not even begin with trying to find somebodys phone number. I know I found myself having to refresh my memory on the Internet last time I had to send a letter to someone. I was lucky enough to retain how to write a check, though. I find it amazing to look back in history and see how technology has progressed. From a four thousand dollar luxury item to the ubiquitous life companion, smartphones have changed the way we interact with the world, if in some undesirable ways. We can do so much with such a small, yet powerful device. Where would we be without our smartphones?

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Works Cited Goodwin, Richard. The History of Mobile Phones: 1973 to 2007. Know your Mobile. n.p. 3 Apr. 2013. 5 Feb. 2014. Meyers, Justin. Watch The Incredible 70-Year Evolution Of The Cell Phone Business Insider. n.p. 6 May. 2011. 5 Feb. 2014

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