Smartphones: Technological Tethers

        The newest issue of Time magazine is a special report about the rising use and importance of smartphones.  "The Wireless Issue: 10 Ways Your Phone is Changing the World" features a global poll that sheds light on the use of smartphones and attitudes toward them in "all age groups and income levels in eight countries: the U.S., the U.K., China, India, South Korea, South Africa, Indonesia and Brazil" (32).  The cover for this issue is exceedingly cool - a mosaic of 288 Instagram photos sent via mobile from Time readers in 120 countries.  The report is expansive, covering areas from the impact smartphones are making on elections, charity work and purchasing to their elevated use in spheres such as journalism and education.  The part that interests me the most though, is the section entitled: "Your Life is Fully Mobile," which investigates the effects of smartphones on people's everyday lives.

        Nancy Gibbs, the writer of this article, brings up some points about phones that I have been pondering for a while now.  I used to be one of those people who had a phone, but basically just for emergencies - it didn't have internet or the ability to play music or take pictures.  Sounds like a fate worse than death, I know.  I would frequently forget to charge it or even to bring it with me when I went out.  Then, about six months ago, I got the iphone.  Now I sleep with my phone, it sits next to my plate while I eat; sometimes I just hold it in my hand, even though I am not expecting a call or email.  One of the points that Gibbs focuses on is the rapidity with which this obsession with smartphones has occurred.  "It is hard to think of any tool, any instrument, any object in history with which so many developed so close a relationship so quickly as we have with our phones.  Not the knife or match, the pen or page.  Only money comes close - always at hand, don't leave home without it.  But most of us don't take a wallet to bed with us, don't reach for it and check it every few minutes..." (32). According to the global poll, 1 in 4 people said they check their phone every half hour and 1 in 5 admitted to checking it every five minutes; a third of those surveyed claimed that being away from their phones for even short periods of time gave them anxiety.   

        There is no question that smartphones make our lives easier - there are no longer any excuses for not keeping in touch with friends, family and work  - and way more importantly - there is no longer any excuse for not knowing things.  Whatever societal implications come with this obsession, one thing that is sure to dwindle is general ignorance.  Everyday questions like, "what kind of flower is that?" and "who was the lead in that movie again?" can be answered in seconds with barely an interruption in conversation.  Phones definitely make our lives easier, but at what cost?  Gibbs writes that "in the U.S., close to 9 in 10 adults carry a mobile, leaving its marks on body, mind, spirit. [...] Thumbs are stronger, attention shorter, temptation everywhere: we can always be, mentally, digitally, someplace other than where we are" (32). This is the biggest problem, I think.  Having my phone on me at all times gives me the ability to avoid any situation - boring dinner discussion, strangers who for some reason want to chat while they wait for a train or elevator, a long wait in line.  But this supposed need for escape becomes a habit, and speaking only for myself of course, I don't feel the need to wait until I am bored to pull out my phone anymore.  Next time you are out to eat, look around at the other patrons.  Almost everyone is on their phone, and the few that aren't have a forlorn, yet anxious look on their faces like they are missing an essential piece of themselves.  It's disturbing when you consider the attachment that a majority of people have to their phones.  The smartphone "is a form of sustenance, that constant feed of news and notes and nonsense, to the point that [...] many people would pick their phone over their lunch if forced to choose [and] three-quarters of 25-to-29-year-olds sleep with their phones.  Gibbs closes her article with an ominous yet thought-provoking question: how much of our lives and work and relationships is left to be completely transformed by our obsession with smartphones?
**Check out the whole special report and all the details of the global poll:
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/0,9263,7601120827,00.html