Smartphones Are Changing Our Future

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When Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone back in the 1870s, I’m sure he never expected the telephone to morph into smartphones such as the iPhone a little over 200 years later. The introduction of the telephone to homes changed the manner in which society communicated. Gone were the days where one had write a letter, or go to see a neighbour, simply to communicate. The social change was much greater than technology behind the telephone itself; it changed the landscape of communication. As the telephone progressed into a rotary dial telephone, then to push button technology, the means of communication did not change much from then, until the invention of the mobile phone. The mobile phone freed the user from the ties of their homes and offices. With the advent of the mobile phone, consumers could be reached anywhere, whether they were at the grocery store, or around the world. The user’s demands on mobile phone developers have taken smartphones such as iPhones to new heights by becoming a new form of commodification. With the introduction of the internet to the mobile phone, a whole new information portal has opened at our fingertips. The smartphone is not just a mobile phone, rather it has replaced the need for many items such as cameras, home landlines and at times even your wallet. As technology has advanced, so has society’s demand on technology. While smartphone innovators create and change technology, they must keep the end user in mind. No longer is the average consumer looking for a phone to solely make phone calls, rather most users have expectations of the phone doing more. Consumers want smartphones which can access the internet, and has the capability of using apps. The designers of phones are not just trying... ... middle of paper ... ...moment of photography.” Photographies 5(2):203-221. Kline, Ronald and Trevor Pinch (1996) ‘Users as Agents of Technological Change: The Social Construction of the Automobile in the Rural United States’, Technology and Culture, 37/4 (The Johns Hopkins University Press):763-795 Novas, Carlos (2013). Lecture: The Social Construction of Technology. ANTH/SOCI 2035A, Technology, Culture and Society. Carleton University, Ottawa. Palenchar, Joseph (2008). "17% Of Households Cut Landlines For Cellphones." TWICE: This Week in Consumer Electronics 23(20):16-16. Smith, Merritt Roe (1994). ‘Technological Determinism in American Culture', in Merritt Roe Smith and Leo Marx (eds), Does Technology Drive History? (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press): 1-35. Snickars, Pelle and Patrick Vonderau (2012). Moving Data: The IPhone and the future of media (New York, NY: Columbia University Press).

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