Oh, for the love of smart phones, albeit an iphone, blackberry or an android. Our mobile phones have long surpassed being mere instruments to receive and make calls.
Having a smart phone is information at your fingertips, entertainment at a click of a button and all you need to help you stay connected to friends, family and for the workaholics, even the office. There is an application for almost everything which helps to make life easier, from GPS, banking, games and email access.
Mobile phones are seen glued to ears, teenager’s palms and carried in a case on the hip. Heavens forbid you should leave your mobile in error at home as it is impossible to go a day without it.
Blackberry’s and Iphones are known in the Caribbean, the debate still raging about which is the better of the two. The smart phone hype is all over, especially in Jamaica. If you don’t have one then you “nah seh nothing.” This means that you are seen as not with the times and somewhat regarded as lame.
It is a known fact that the hype is so overwhelming that almost everyone seeks to possess one, especially teenagers. Even if it means gaining one by begging relatives overseas, by unlawful means or saving like there’s no tomorrow. Then there are those at the extreme, they may possess the phone but unable to afford the upkeep for the data services and renders the smart phone useless as it is not utilized for that which it was designed to do.
Technology in practice...?
However, despite numerous advantages apart from the hype and swagger of owning one; there is the flip side to this wonderful gadget.
Vis a vis contact is a dying art as people now chose to text, ping and message away as the new way to communicate. If you think I am exaggerating, ask yourself how many people you have observed on a daily basis totally engrossed with their smart phones when their attention is needed elsewhere.
From executives, managers and the lowly employee, everyone seems addicted to their phones. Apart from the impersonal communication that is the new trend, mobile phones also make us vulnerable to other ill effects. A prime example of this is when one misplaces or loses their cell phone and even worse is not having the information stored on a back up in the event of such unfortunate circumstances.
When all that information is lost, the horror sets in where all your contact information, personal and even business is lost as well. Then there is the daunting task of replacing all that is now gone.
More terrifying is anything that is confidential and for the mobile owner’s eyes only is now available to a complete stranger and for the entire world to see. Many individuals, famous or not, have had their personal “acts” on public display and while some may find it amusing, I am certain that the subjects of the exposure did not.
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