This is a commercial for the Windows phone that satirizes how people use their phones too much and I'm posting it here because it made me laugh and I think it serves as a decent introduction to my blog post for this week because the reading discussed not only how much people use the Internet in general but also on their phones.
While reading this article I originally thought of a commercial from a few years ago that showed someone holding a bunch of media (books, movies, music, a dictionary...) and then said something along the lines of: "You could carry all of this around with you... or you could buy this Smartphone." But the trick is remembering which Smartphone they were advertising and then finding the video. The one above however does demonstrate the central idea that we spend entirely too much time with each of our Internet-enabled devices shoved in our faces.
The part of this chapter that I was most surprised by was concerned with how different places use technology, in which ways, and for how long, on average. I don't think these numbers are too surprising considering how much these devices have evolved even just over the past 10 years and how quickly (think Motorola Razr phone, which I was psyched to get in 9th grade, versus an iPhone 3 just 3 years later, versus the Samsung Galaxy Tab this year...) and how much texting has replaced face-to-face or phone calls mostly out of convenience (T9 vs. a full touch-screen keyboard).
The Internet and all the devices that use it are endless and present endless possibilities for the limited time we're awake in a day, and these possibilities are always changing. A friend of mine showed me this tonight and I lost about an hour playing it. The link is to a game called 2048 that is essentially a math game that uses an algorithm that generates two 2's and you move like numbers around trying to get a final score of 2048 in the boxes. It's simple but incredibly addicting and just shows how our Internet time can disappear quickly as the chapter discusses.
I love your post because it essentially describes my feelings about smartphones. As sad as it is, my iPhone is my life. It is my alarm, scheduler, and a place that holds all of my music, notes, and more. Smartphones are really useful and helpful, but I agree that because we can fit everything into one device, it makes me realize how dependent we are on technology as well as how much it has advanced within the past 10 years. From flip phones to phones with keyboards to touch screens to smartphones, we've come a long way.
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