How the mobile telephone has evolved (Bell, 2006). Originally the size of a briefcase and used only for calls, the mobile has rapidly evolved; first to allow texting which was soon followed by small applications and games, internet access and email. The current crop of smart phones can do just about everything – and I love it.
My iPhone is not simply for telecommunications. I pay $79 a month to a little company called Optus to make my life easier. Internet access and $1.19 games make my daily commute bearable, Facebook and Twitter applications allow me to keep up to date with what is going on in my various circles, I am informed when I receive an email and then there’s the built-in utilities: Calculator, Weather, Notes and Maps.
Amongst friends, I have jokingly renamed the iPhone a Soul, and whilst this is a self depreciating backhander aimed at my reliance on the mini-computer that’s housed in my left pocket, I am ashamedly lost without it. People may criticise Gen-Y’s anti-social use of the portable technology but I’m sorry, times have changed old man. If I hear “stop that texting nonsense, you should pick up the phone and call them” one more time I will scream (or tweet my frustration). The mobile is no longer a phone – it’s a way of life.
Reference List
Bell, G. (2006). The Age of the Thumb: a Cultural Reading of Mobile Technologies from AsiaKnowledge, Technology, & Policy, 19 (2), 41-57.
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