The Ecology of Media

When the much anticipated Smartphone came out it was a form of technology that no one was accustomed to and had a lot of marketing and resourceful potential it practically came out and grabbed people by the collar. Soon the average user could check their emails, use their phone as a basic pc and do such things as get map directions and research facts straight from their phone. It was efficiency and usefulness at its best that made communication a little easier for the common human and everyone’s reach a little longer. This newly discovered technology meant a lot of marketing potential and a vastness of new applications and features that would mean a whole new meaning of the word ‘phone’. Eventually people came to the realization that the modern phone is now practically used for everything aside making calls to people. Many youths between the ages of 14-28 are using their phones for texting, email, news, games, music, video recording, cameras (some having as much as 8 Mp!), social networking and even blogs. With so many other uses aside from calling your parents or friends it makes you wonder, what the modern definition of a phone is?

With these new sides of technology that come with many modern phones: texting, news, 3 G networking and so on, it seems that the social component of a phone has changed as well. Calling is one of the most personal and social means of communicating with an individual but now it almost seems impractical. More communication is done through texting in one day then calling and everything else is done either through email or Facebook.

This observation of one’s everyday life of communicating with people truly reflects the idea that with more communication capabilities comes more miscommunication. I support the idea that a phone can be used for such uses as a camera, video camera and email but have we come to the point where such extensions of technology for something as simple as a phone have lead us to social isolation and lack of connection?

I feel that the Smartphone is good for some but worse for others because it can have a strong grasp on the habits and character of everyday people with so many usages and functions. As convenient and appealing these devices such as Blackberries and iphones may seem, it simply another medium that gives the idea that such a device is needed but is only another way to attract mass consumerism. Personally, I’ll stick with my old phone thank you very much.