After reading Sam’s blog about the T-mobile sidekick, I am very intrigued about the issue of connectivity. The first problem that I would like to address is the idea of cell phones symbolizing connectivity. Several years ago I started to notice parents giving cell phones to their children, especially to their daughters. Lots of parents had been concerned about their children’s safety and worried that it’s hard to reach their children without a cell phone. With a cell phone, parents can locate their children just by calling or texting them. So, the question that I would like to ask is “Does a child need a cell phone?”
In today’s 21st century, young children are evolving into a new lifestyle that is based on cell phones and they are too dependent on them. Cell phones are losing their basic purpose; connectivity and it becomes clear that cell phones are becoming more of an “obsession” instead of connecting people. Nowadays, children can chat, play games, listen to music, and browse the internet with their cell phones. For some parents, this could be problematic because children are spending more time with their cell phones texting and calling their friends instead of talking to their parents at home. The ironic part about it is that cell phones are designed to connect people and yet, cell phones are distancing children and their parents.
For the second issue, I agreed with Sam’s opinion that by using cell phones, we are losing our sense of seclusion from the outside world because it’s almost the same as using computers that we known as “Cyber Worlds.” When we are “talking” using cell phones or computers, there are certain degrees of human expression that are limited. For example, we wouldn’t know who is texting or chatting with us; it might not be who we expected it to be.
Furthermore, critiquing the technological side from cell phones, our computer technology develops at a breakneck rate. According to Moore's law, computing power doubles every 2 years or so. Take the Iphone for example. It pretty much covers anything a normal person can dream of. It has internet capability, and with google almost the entire information known to man is accessible within our pockets. It also has mapping and GPS, and we will never be lost again so long as we get a reception from the satellite. It plays MP3s, hours if not days of music to our ears. Above all, it's one sexy device with its touch screen capabilities. But here's the problem with cell phones: battery life. All that power needs battery power, and that's where the technology is stuck in time. The battery technology for cell phones hasn't changed at all since we discovered the first battery.
Overall, critiquing the connection between the connective and recreational aspects of cell phones, I think that people need to embrace the consequences of cell phones technology current state. Sure there are lots of issues that I haven’t mentioned here, but just like Truman had said from his comment, they will always coexist in our everyday life.
