Meerkat Prompts: The Mobile Phone
Above, you have a picture of the very first mobile phone I ever owned. The Simens C35i was a fairly typical phone for the year 2000, with all the usual refinements of the era. You could both call, and send texts! Two whole functions, pretty amazing right? It had a decent battery life, and the signal… it wasn’t too bad, and to be fair, you can’t really hang the signal too much on the phone.
Consider for a moment that this was 24 years ago. This may seem like a long time, and in some ways it is, but 24 years is also the blink of an eye. Back then, around 44% of UK households had a mobile phone. Today, that figure stands at around 93%, which goes to show how rapidly the mobile market has exploded. Not only that, but the sophistication of the devices we stuff into pockets and handbags has leapt forward at what sometimes feels like an impossible rate.
The HTC Legend was the first smartphone I ever owned. I had wanted the HTC Desire, but that was a little beyond my price range. Still, the Legend was good, and it was my first true taste of all the capabilities of smartphones. It used the Android operating system, which back in 2010 (when the Legend was released) accounted for around 10% of all smartphone operating systems. I quite liked it, and most Android phones had the benefit of being considerably cheaper than the iPhone. Back then, Apple’s operating system – exclusive to iPhones – accounted for 33% of the global market at the start of 2010, and 23$ by the end of the year, quite the decline.
Smartphones transformed what a mobile phone was. Gone was a simple device to use for calls and texts, and in its stead was something akin to a computer. Mobile phones have become nearly as powerful in many respects, and they have absorbed other technologies. Phones are now cameras, music players, recording studios, and web browsers. They are mini games consoles. The sum of all human history and knowledge is accessible with a device that you can hold in the palm of your hand. This is pretty sensational, no matter what way you spin it.
There is a downside. Have smartphones dented our ability to concentrate? The rise of the smartphone has also led to the rise of short, snappy videos, such as those found via TikTok, and instant gratification is now at our fingertips. Plus, are we prepared to challenge ourselves and truly think, or fire up the phone, go to the calculator, and bypass any actual work? Then again, some might say that having all the tools instantly available to us lets us be more productive.
There’s something else to consider too, and this can be good or bad as well. As with computers, and thanks to the advent of wireless and cellular internet access, people can now easily spread ideas and opinions. You can capture a video of something happening, and share it within minutes. You can even live-stream major events to anyone around the world. There exist serious questions as to how this affects privacy, but by the same token, this should also make us think about accountability.
As this technology will undoubtedly continue to evolve, this too raises questions. People want the latest phone, all the time. We have developed something of a wasteful culture where phones are concerned. There is a concern that manufacturers build in obsolescence, because if people cling to their device for several years there’s no money being made from selling new ones. Wider queries include whether or not we end up with 3D displays, and whether or not we eventually see a sort of merging of flesh and technology (which should be in the far, far future!).
What do you think of the mobile phone?
