The end of the last century was a mere 18 years ago, but much has changed in this relatively short period of time. Back at the turn of the last century the main computing device was a desktop computer, most adults in the U.S. (and I am sure Canada as well) had landline telephones, and if we owned a mobile phone it was only used when away from home, and used sparingly. Since then more people own laptop computers than desktop computers, just about everybody has a mobile phone, and tablet devices, which did not even exist in the year 2000, augment and at times replace computers in the home. This season OnMouseClick will visit how these changes are making an impact on our lives, and how we can enrich our experiences using these devices.
When it comes to mobile phones, a 2017 report by the U.S. Center for Disease Control National Health Information Survey stated that in 2003 less than 3% of households relied on wireless service only. By the time this survey was taken again in 2017, the percentage of wireless service only households jumped to 53.3%. What changed in the fourteen years between 2003 and 2017? One difference is our telephone numbers. For most of the last century, every time you moved you had to get a new telephone number. With the advent of mobile phones, telephone numbers can be easily ported from one service to another. Our son and daughter-in-law got their mobile phone numbers while living in Arizona. They moved to Hawaii, and then Virginia, but their telephone numbers still feature an Arizona area code. For those of us with more than one home, life is made much simpler with one phone number that follows us wherever we go.
The another difference is that mobile phones have gotten smarter — in fact we refer to them as “smart phones.” We all know that mobile phones are much more than telephones. The devices are cameras, address books, personal calendars, notebooks, gaming devices and GPS maps. They stream video content and are our portals to the internet and social media. I, for one, would be lost without my iPhone, but as much as these devices have added to our lives, they are also major distractions.
Our mobile phones are always with us, and while we once had need of a telephone answering system, we can now answer telephone calls anywhere. While we may appreciate the convenience of having our personal phone available, it means everyone else has their phones available too. At times we are surrounded by one sided conversations in public places. Not only telephone calls but other aspects of cell phones are invading our space. Look around any restaurant and you see diners looking down at their phones instead of conversing with their table mates — and this includes senior citizens as well as younger people. Go to any playground and watch parents busy on their phones while ignoring their children. Texting, checking social media, playing games or talking on the phone seem to be taking the place of face to face, interpersonal interaction.
Eddie and I recently spent a few days at Disney World, and I was surprised to see so many people walking around looking down at their phones. I realized that some of them were using the My Disney Experience app. It is an excellent app that keeps track of dining reservations, fast pass tickets (passes that circumvent long lines at rides), and shows real-time maps of the park, but too many people seemed to be fixated on their phones instead of enjoying the sights and sounds around them.
My first suggestion of the season is for all of us to make an effort to limit our use of mobile phones in public spaces. Wait to make phone call when there are no other people around — and if you must take a call when out in public, keep it short. When dining out ask your dinner companions to keep their phones in their pockets and purses, or place them face down on the table. Use apps when they are needed, but don’t let the phone replace experiencing the real world all around us.
We are happy to be home again at TR and hope all had an enjoyable summer with family and friends — I look forward to sharing my computer related insights with the many wonderful people here.
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