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Home > Blog > Getting Into College > Paying for School > College Payments > How Was Life Before The Internet – What Did People Do?

School Life Balance , Tips for Online Students

How Was Life Before The Internet – What Did People Do?

Updated: June 19, 2024

Published: June 1, 2021

It’s hard to imagine a time in the world where smartphones and social media weren’t an integral part of your life. Let’s go back to what seems like an eternity ago, to see how life before the internet was different.

10 Ways Life Was Different Before The Internet

Amazon was just a river/rain forest.

If the word Amazon was mentioned in a sentence, it was only in reference to the river in South America. No one could think about the possibility of online stores .

Planning ahead

Last-minute plans were not possible once you left your house. You’d be very careful to set up exact meeting times and locations with your friends.

Recorded music off the radio / mix tapes

If there was a song that you loved, you would have to record it off the radio. Looking for a compilation of songs? You’d have to make that yourself too.

You needed to leave your house to socialize

There was no online shopping or Zoom — if you wanted to buy something or see a friend, you needed to get off the couch and out of your house to socialize.

You had to look up information in encyclopedias

Before the days of Google and Wikipedia, if you wanted information on a particular topic, you would have to look it up in an encyclopedia, listing everything in alphabetical order.

Tinder in real life was a piece of paper

When there was someone you were interested in, in order to ask them out, you needed to either pluck up the courage to ask them out in person, or else pass them a piece of paper with three boxes: check yes, no, or maybe.

Web design was done by spiders

Many jobs did not exist before the internet. Those that were web designers were most likely a spider.

Wasting time in the office was more obvious

It was a lot more obvious if you wanted to look at something other than the work in front of you on the computer . Staring out the window or looking at inspiring pictures on the office walls were far more obvious than they are today.

Posts were made on real walls

If you had an event or information you wanted to share with other people, then you needed to physically print it on a piece of paper and post it on a real wall for others to see.

Mobile games were much simpler

When mobile phones first came out with the ability to play games on them, they were much simpler than they are today. Nokia’s famous snake game became a “game changer” in the world of gaming.

Looking something up took a lot of time and work

As Google and Youtube were not available, if you wanted to learn something you needed to read it in a book. Before the internet, you had to spend hours within a library searching through books to find the information you needed.

Games with more than one player needed a table

Multiplayer games needed to be played on a table, and with the other players in the same room as you! You didn’t have the freedom to play with people from around the world.

Trolls were mythological creatures, not angry opinionated people

Trolls were seen in fantasy films or children’s stories. Today they are people who feel the need to share opinions that would never have been acceptable in public before the internet.  

Long-distance communication meant letters, not email

You would get excited when the mailman would come by, hoping that someone sent you a letter.

Selfies required sophisticated technology

If you wanted to take a picture of yourself you needed more sophisticated technology; you needed to get the Gameboy Camera.

Search for movie times in the newspaper

If you wanted to know what time your movie was playing at, you had one place to search for the answer — the newspaper.

Life Before Cell Phones

Being unreachable.

You could leave your house and focus on whatever task or activity you set out to do. No one could reach you or disturb you.

Looking someone up in a phone book was the original Google search

There was a huge book that had everyone’s phone number in it. You needed to look them up to find their number. If you wanted the number for a business, the yellow pages were the original Google.

Having fun outdoors

When not in school or doing chores, kids would be outside playing with each other for hours on end. Parents would send them out themselves and hope that when they were hungry for dinner or lunch they would come home to eat.  

Watching TV

You had to watch television shows when they were scheduled to air. This also meant you would have to wait a full week until the next episode aired.

Playing board games with your family

Family time was spent playing board games, many having established designated “game nights” each week. There were lots of different games you could play together. It was a great opportunity to have fun and bond with each other.

Used real cameras

People couldn’t use their phones to take pictures, you needed to use an actual camera.

Used maps or asked someone to get directions

When you went on a trip, you needed to be prepared and bring a physical map with you, or risk being left to constantly ask directions along the way. There was no Google Maps to reference.

Shared unfiltered pictures of yourself

People shared the pictures they took without any editing, emojis, or special filters.  

Used payphones

What happened when you were out and needed to call someone? Payphones. On every corner there were public phones, and it cost 25 cents to use.

Memorized people’s phone numbers

Before smartphones, if you wanted to call someone you had to actually know their phone number.

Life Before Social Media

There was a lot less fomo.

Today you are bombarded with everyone else’s pictures of their ever-so-fabulous lives, bringing up the feeling of FOMO, or fear of missing out. But back in the day you weren’t subjected to that unless someone showed you printed pictures of their trip or life.

Not everything had to be photographed

There wasn’t this deep desire to photograph every experience you had or thing you happen to see.

Didn’t search for approval from others

The reason for posting every aspect of your lives is to get approval from others to confirm that you are living correctly. Before the internet there was no way for you to get that kind of immediate, and consistent approval, so no one was searching it out.   

Were not subjected to other’s toxic opinions

Once in a while at a family gathering you would be subject to a relative’s unwanted opinion on your life. But with the age of the internet came constant posts or comments in your newsfeed about someone’s toxic opinions daily.

You didn’t have something to waste so many hours of your life

Quickly checking one Youtube video for reference is never as simple as that. Before you know it, 4 hours have passed and you watched 100 videos and found yourself ordering something new on Amazon. Before you know it, half your day has been wasted checking your phone or computer.

Not exposed to such tragedy from around the globe

Global tragedies have always occurred, but they weren’t in your face every moment of the day. Not only do you hear of global horrors as they happen, but there are the tragic images and videos to go along with them.

No constant comparison between yourself and others

Maybe you would be jealous of someone’s hair, figure, or job, but it wasn’t shoved down your throat to see all day, every day.

Not able to spy on others

The ability to stealthily stalk everyone you went to high school with was not as easy as it is today. You would have to sit outside their house to spy on someone — sounds creepy, right?

Life before the internet definitely had its pros and cons. It was a time with more face-to-face interaction and time spent outside of your house. It can enrich your life to incorporate some aspects of these activities and help find a balance between the two worlds.

In this article

At UoPeople, our blog writers are thinkers, researchers, and experts dedicated to curating articles relevant to our mission: making higher education accessible to everyone. Read More

What Did People Do Before Phones: A Glimpse into Pre-Smartphone Life

By: Author Valerie Forgeard

Posted on April 6, 2024

Categories History , Society , Technology

Imagine a world without the constant ping of notifications, where finding your way meant more than just following a blue dot on a screen.

Before the era of smartphones and even landlines, communication and entertainment took forms that might seem foreign to you now.

Your ancestors might have gathered around a radio for news and stories or engaged in face-to-face conversations without interrupting text messages or emails.

You might wonder how people managed to meet without the convenience of instant messaging or how they filled their leisure time. They read books, wrote letters, played physical games, and indulged in crafting and hobbies that didn’t require a digital interface. Without smartphones, they had to remember phone numbers , rely on printed maps for directions, or explore without a fixed route in mind.

Social interactions were vastly different, too. Planning to meet someone meant setting a time and place in advance—and sticking to it. Without the ability to send a quick text, punctuality was crucial. Your creativity and problem-solving skills were essential for entertainment and overcoming everyday challenges. From the thrill of live events to the simple pleasure of daydreaming, life before phones was rich with experiences that required your full attention and presence .

Communication Before Phones

Before the advent of telephones, people had innovative ways to communicate over distances or have meaningful in-person interactions. Your understanding of today’s world of instant messaging and calls is about to be enriched by looking back at how communication functioned in a time before phones.

Written Correspondence

Written letters were the quintessential form of long-distance communication. You needed to write a message, seal it in an envelope, and send it through a postal system that might take days, weeks, or even months to reach the recipient. The invention of the telegraph was a significant leap forward, carrying messages across vast distances almost instantly compared to traditional posts.

Face-to-Face Interaction

Without phones, in-person conversation was the most immediate and expressive communication method. You’d rely on face-to-face meetings to convey emotions, resolve issues, and share news, which fostered strong community ties and personal relationships.

Use of Messengers

When you couldn’t deliver a message yourself, you’d use messengers . These could be individuals on foot, horseback, or even carrier pigeons. In the case of more structured communications, such as during battles or in large empires, systems like the semaphore were developed. This involved a network of towers with pivoting arms to convey messages across land using visual signals.

Information and News Distribution

Before the advent of phones, you relied on traditional media and public resources to stay informed. Different methods were available for different societies and needs, but two of the most common were newspapers and public bulletins.

Newspapers and Journals

Your primary source for detailed information would likely have been newspapers and journals . Newspapers were published at various frequencies, from daily to weekly updates on local, national, and international events.

Articles were meticulously written by reporters and printed in large quantities, so you could easily find a newspaper at newsstands, or have them delivered to your doorstep through subscription services.

Public Bulletins and Announcements

You could turn to public bulletins or official announcements for more immediate or localized information. Often found in town squares or other busy public places, government officials might have used these bulletins to disseminate decrees, legal notices, or emergency information.

This method was beneficial if you lived in a time or place where newspapers weren’t as easily accessible or if the news was urgent and couldn’t wait for the next newspaper printing.

Navigation and Travel

Before the world was at your fingertips with the ease of technology, you had to rely on more traditional means to find your way and navigate. Let’s explore how people managed to traverse the globe and how they went about their daily commutes.

Traditional Maps and Navigation

In the times before Google Maps, your primary tool for navigation was a paper map . You would unfold these large sheets of paper, which displayed complex networks of roads, landmarks, and topographical features – the key to planning any journey. Consulting a detailed map was essential if you wanted to find directions to a new place . You might have even stopped to ask locals for advice when your map’s details weren’t enough to prevent a wrong turn.

Moreover, learning how to read a map correctly was a skill. It wasn’t just about understanding the symbols and scales but also about developing a sense of orientation and the ability to translate a 2D representation into the 3D world you were traversing by foot, bike, or car.

Public and Personal Transportation

Regarding public transportation, like trains or buses, you often relied on printed timetables or posted schedules at stations. These schedules inform you about departure times, platform numbers, and sometimes even the expected traffic or delays affecting your travel.

For personal transportation with your car, the absence of live updates from a service like Google Maps meant that avoiding traffic required you to listen to the radio for real-time traffic reports. If you were planning a road trip or just navigating across town, you would prepare by mapping out your route with a paper map , keeping an eye out for visual landmarks to ensure you were on the right path.

Leisure and Entertainment

Before the widespread use of phones, your options for leisure and entertainment were more hands-on and often involved direct social interactions or engaging with emerging media technologies of the time.

Social Gatherings and Events

Imagine meeting friends at a pub or attending a live music concert. These social gatherings weren’t just about entertainment; they were a fundamental part of community life. You’d check movie times in the newspaper, plan your evening accordingly, and maybe catch a movie or a theatre performance. The anticipation for these events, sometimes planned days or weeks in advance, added to the excitement and value of the experience.

Radio and Early Television

Radio was a staple in your home, delivering news, serialized stories, and your favorite music . Families would gather around the radio, much like they did later with the TV, to listen to a beloved show at a specific time – appointment listening at its best. Then, with the advent of early television (TV) , your engagement with entertainment shifted slightly. Black-and-white screens brought visuals to storytelling, offering a new way to experience narratives and performances from the comfort of your living room.

Business and Work

Before smartphones and the internet simplified business processes, your work life might have revolved around more traditional and manual task management methods.

Office Management

In the age before computers and laptops became ubiquitous in your office, paperwork was done by hand or using typewriters. Complex filing systems were crucial to keep track of documents, and everything was stored in physical folders.

The telegraph , a distant cousin of modern messaging, often played a pivotal role in urgent office communication, especially since Western Union made it widely accessible. Before email, you may have received important office memos as telegrams, a method that, while slower than today’s instant digital messages, was revolutionary for its time.

Industry Communication

Communicating through different departments and with other businesses was a task that once relied heavily on face-to-face meetings and messengers. When you needed to relay a message across the industry, often, the only option was direct human interaction or a physical letter.

The inception of the telegraph meant that industries could send messages over long distances much faster than a physical courier. This technology laid down the tracks for the rapid exchange of information, paving the way for modern business communications.

Personal Connections

Before smartphones and the internet, your connections were largely fostered through face-to-face interactions and handwritten correspondence. Engaging in community events and spending quality time with family were cornerstones of forming and maintaining relationships.

Dating and Social Life

Before the dawn of mobile phones, if you had a crush on someone, you would likely arrange to meet in person to get to know each other better. Social gatherings, dances, and local hangouts were prime spots for meeting potential dates.

Without the convenience of texting, you had to be bold and ask someone out in person or pass a carefully folded note through a friend. Finding a boy or girl to date often meant engaging in frequent community events or through mutual friends.

• Social events
• Family introductions
• Through friends

Family and Community Ties

Family gatherings were a regular affair; without the distractions of digital devices, you’d often engage in more meaningful conversations . Community involvement was also significant, with local clubs, religious institutions, and neighborhood groups serving as hubs for socialization. Communication with distant family typically involved writing and receiving letters , requiring patience for a response but often resulting in heartfelt exchanges.

• Face-to-face talks
• Handwritten letters
• Community bulletin boards

Family and community gatherings built solid interpersonal bonds, and social courtesies were highly valued. You understood the importance of showing up in the literal sense and being fully present for those around you.

Daily Convenience and Tools

Before the era of smartphones and digital assistants, managing your daily life required more hands-on and tangible tools. You might not realize it, but your ancestors had savvy ways to effectively organize and navigate their days.

Time Management and Scheduling

Before you could carry a schedule in your pocket, planners and paper schedules were your go-to. You’d have to jot down appointments and cross-check your calendar regularly manually. Clocks were essential, whether the grandfather clocks in homes or the public ones in town squares, helping you keep track of the time throughout your day.

• Workplace: Schedules were posted on boards or distributed as memos.
• Home: The family calendar was often prominently displayed in the kitchen.

Weather Forecasting and Calendars

Your ability to plan for the weather relied heavily on the almanac ; a compendium of weather forecasts, planting charts for farmers, and – interestingly – astronomical details.

• Daily weather: You’d look out for the newspapers, which often had a dedicated section for weather predictions.
• Long-term planning: An almanac or a traditional paper calendar might be where you check what to expect climate-wise in the upcoming months.

Education and Research

Before the digital age, your pursuit of knowledge relied heavily on physical spaces and tangible resources. Let’s explore the realms of libraries and archives and the techniques for gathering information .

Libraries and Archives

When you wanted to research a topic or study for an upcoming exam, your local library was an invaluable resource. Shelves were filled with books , from textbooks to specialized encyclopedias , each holding a wealth of information . Archives served as repositories for historical records, where you could find original documents and rare publications, providing a direct link to the past.

• Borrowing books for study or pleasure.
• Utilizing reference sections for in-depth research.
• Accessing historical records and primary sources.
• Preserving documents for future generations.

Information Gathering Techniques

Before Wikipedia, gathering information required more legwork. You had to know how to use the card catalog, a physical database of all the materials in a library. You would track down the books or journals you needed by combining index cards or consulting the library’s encyclopedia sets.

• Identify a topic or research question.
• Locate relevant books and materials using a card catalog or bibliographies.
• Read and take detailed notes, often by hand.
• Compile your findings to support your thesis or research topic.

Engaging directly with physical texts often meant you’d leave the library with a deepened understanding , having navigated a tangible knowledge landscape.

Emergencies and Safety Measures

Before the era of smartphones and instant communication, you relied on a range of local and national systems to alert you of emergencies and ensure safety. Innovations and community efforts were pivotal in keeping everyone informed and ready to respond in times of crisis.

Local Support and Alert Systems

In your local community, systems like air raid sirens and community alert signals play a critical part in your safety during emergencies. During conflicts such as World War I and World War II, these alert systems were used to warn of potential air strikes. For instance, you might recall the blaring sirens indicating a need for immediate shelter.

• Alarm Systems : Included bells and hand-cranked sirens before electricity-powered alarms became widespread.
• Visual Signals : Flags and lights guided daytime and nighttime communication when audible signals weren’t suitable.

National Defense Communications

The government developed extensive communication strategies to protect its citizens. National defense and civil defense programs were set up, particularly during World War II, to establish a reliable communication chain for your safety.

• Broadcasts : Radio broadcasts were the primary medium for the government to disseminate information quickly.
• Civil Defense : This included not just signals and sirens but also emergency drills and public education on responding to various threats.

Governments often relied on these methods as they were the most effective way to reach a broad audience and ensure the safety of civilians during dire times.

Looking Back and Moving Forward

In the communication journey, we’ve come a long way from smoke signals to smartphones. Your understanding of this evolution will be enriched as we explore how we connected then and how we connect now.

Evolution of Communication Technology

Before the invention of the telephone, communication across distances was significantly more challenging. Your ancestors relied on methods such as sending letters via horseback or telegraph. Samuel Morse massively changed the landscape of long-distance communication in 1832 with the advent of telegraphy. Morse Code, developed from his breakthrough, allowed people to send messages in dots and dashes over wires. It was revolutionary.

Yet, it was the work of Alexander Graham Bell and others that genuinely made real-time, voice-to-voice communication a reality. With the birth of the telephone in the 1870s, the world saw its first glimpse of instantaneous communication, regardless of distance. As telephones became more common , what was once a luxury soon became integral to everyday life .

Early Phones to Smartphones:

• 1876: Bell’s telephone
• 1983: First cell phones
• 2007: Apple introduces the iPhone
• 2008: First Android smartphone

Impact of Phones on Modern Society

Smartphones have ushered in an era of unprecedented connectivity . The iPhone, introduced in 2007, revolutionized not just the phone concept but how you engage with information, entertainment, and each other. It led a wave that brought the Android platform soon after, heralding a new age for telephones—more intelligent, versatile, and ingrained in the social fabric than ever before.

The ripple effect of these sophisticated smartphones in your life is substantial. They’re communication tools and gateways to the world’s information, functioning as cameras, maps, and even wallets.

They have transformed how you work, play, and connect—so much so that it’s hard to imagine life before them. Here’s a glance at their impact on society:

• Work : Conduct business anytime, anywhere.
• Social Interaction : Always connected to friends and family.
• Information Access : An endless library in your pocket.
• Leisure : Games, books, and media available on demand.

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Abdul-Rahman Oladimeji Bello

Wikimedia  

Today, smartphones have become an essential part of our daily lives. They allow us to access information quickly and easily from anywhere. The cell phone has also revolutionized communication and has become an essential part of our daily lives. But where did these devices come from? How did they evolve into the powerful tools that they are today?

It’s almost hard to imagine life before cell phones were invented. But if you’re curious about how cell phones have changed over time and what the future holds for them, read on. This article will take a deep dive into the history of the cell phone, from its early beginnings to the modern-day smartphones we use today. We will explore mobile phone evolution, major milestones, and its impact on society.

The Early Days of Cell Phones

The history of cell phones is a fascinating one. Initially, there were only landlines, and people would have to go to their local phone booth if they wanted to make a call and didn’t have a phone. But these days, we take our cell phones with us everywhere we go and use them for everything from sending text messages to taking photos and videos.

Cell phone development can be traced back to the early innovations in wireless communication, driven by the needs of the automobile and train industries. The development of wireless telephony equipment by Zugtelephonie AG in the 1920s marked the beginning of a journey that would eventually lead to the creation of the mobile phones we know today.

wikimedia  

During the Second World War, the  SCR-536 Handie-Talkie  played a crucial role in advancing the technology of portable two-way radio transceivers. It helped lay the foundation for future improvements in mobile communication devices.

Motorola , the company behind the SCR-536 Handie-Talkie, continued to innovate and develop new communication technologies in the post-war era. The first mobile phone was invented in 1973 by Martin Cooper, who worked for Motorola, although it was not commercially available for another 10 years or so. Cooper called it the  DynaTAC , and it weighed more than 2 kg. The battery life was only 30 minutes, but it was still revolutionary because it was the first mobile phone available to the public. 

https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/motorola-razor-mobile-phones-gm471315781-17173132?phrase=motorola

Fast forward to the 1980s, and we see the first commercially available cell phone, the Motorola  DynaTAC 8000X.  But, as you may have guessed, it wasn’t precisely a sleek, modern device. The first generation of cell phone networks, known as 1G, were analog and provided limited capacity for voice calls. This meant that cell phone networks were limited in coverage and often only available in certain areas.

As technology improved, cell phones became smaller, more affordable, and more widely available. The introduction of digital communication through 2G networks and GSM in the early 1990s allowed for the development of texting, which became a popular way to communicate using cell phones.

But, even then, challenges remained. The early cell phone networks were still limited in coverage, and dropped calls were common. It wasn’t until the development of 3G and then 4G networks that cell phones became the ubiquitous, essential part of daily life that they are today.

The First Mobile Phone Call

On April 3, 1973, Martin Cooper made history by placing the first-ever  mobile phone call.  Cooper and his team had been developing a prototype for a portable, wireless telephone. After years of hard work, they finally had a device that could transmit a signal over long distances without being tethered to a landline.

Cooper chose to make the historic call on a Motorola DynaTAC prototype. He walked out onto the streets of New York City at a press conference and dialed Joel Engel, who was working for a rival, Bell Labs, at the time. Cooper had just demonstrated the power of mobile communication and paved the way for the development of cell phones as we know them today. 

The first mobile phone call may have been a simple conversation between two engineers. Still, it represented a significant milestone in the history of telecommunications. It proved that it was possible to develop a portable device that could transmit a signal over long distances and set the stage for development in the years to come.

The Rise of the Flip Phone

The rise of the flip phone is another one of the most significant cell phone milestones. It can be traced back to the mid-1990s when manufacturers started looking for ways to make their devices more compact, stylish, and user-friendly. The flip phone, a clamshell phone, became popular because of its unique design and ease of use.

The  Motorola StarTAC , released in 1996, was the first flip phone. The StarTAC’s sleek clamshell design and unique form factor made it an instant hit. It sold millions of units worldwide.

The  Motorola RAZR,  released in 2004, was another significant milestone in the flip phone era. The  V3 collection  was the first in the series, selling over 130 Million Units. The RAZR’s success further cemented the flip phone’s status as a popular choice among consumers.

https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/motorola-v-series-retro-flip-phone-gm482796782-70582811?phrase=motorola%20flip

The Birth of the Smartphone

The smartphone is a mobile device innovation that can run third-party applications. The term “smartphone” was first used in 1994. Since then, smartphone technology has become more advanced and sophisticated.

The birth of the smartphone can be traced back to 1993 when IBM developed the Simon Personal Communicator. This device combined the features of a mobile phone and a personal digital assistant (PDA). By then, the term smartphone had not been coined, but the features of The Simon were  revolutionary  for its time.

It featured a touchscreen, calendar, email, fax capabilities, and a few built-in apps such as a calculator, notepad, and world clock. Although the IBM Simon was ahead of its time, it was also large and expensive. It also had limited battery life, which hindered widespread adoption.

https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/basic-phone-gm185408270-18448965?phrase=Nokia%209000

Nokia’s Communicator series, starting with the Nokia 9000 Communicator in 1996, brought the concept of a smartphone with a full QWERTY keyboard to the market. These devices allowed users to access the internet, send and receive emails, and run various applications. The Communicator series helped to popularize the idea of a phone that could also function as a personal computer.

The  Palm Treo series , launched in 2002, was a line of smartphones that combined the functionality of Palm’s popular PDAs with mobile phone capabilities. The Treo 270 and later devices featured a full QWERTY keyboard and a color display and ran the Palm OS and Windows. There were 19 in total in the series, and they offered support for email, web browsing, and various productivity applications.  

Next, BlackBerry released its first smartphone, the  BlackBerry 5810,  in 2002. BlackBerry smartphones gained immense popularity, particularly among business users, due to their focus on email and messaging and robust security features.

But it wasn’t until 2007, when Apple released the iPhone, that the smartphone became a game-changer. The Apple iPhone was a game-changer in the smartphone market. It featured a sleek design, a large, capacitive touchscreen, and a user-friendly operating system (iOS) that allowed users to download and use various apps through the App Store. The iPhone’s innovative design, intuitive user interface, and advanced features revolutionized the smartphone industry and set the standard for future devices.

Lastly, the Android operating system, developed by Google, was released in 2008 with the launch of the  T-Mobile G1 . Android was an open-source OS that allowed manufacturers to develop a wide range of smartphones with various features, designs, and price points, leading to the rapid growth and adoption of Android-based smartphones worldwide. 

The Impact of Cell Phones on Society

The impact of cell phones on society has been  significant . Here are some key ways cell phones have impacted society:

• Communication: Communication is one of the most important aspects of any society. The ability to communicate quickly and easily has played a large role in shaping how people interact. Cell phones have revolutionized communication technology. They enable instant communication through voice calls, text messages, and various messaging apps. 
• Access to Information: With the rise of smartphones, cell phones have become powerful tools for accessing information. You can browse the internet, read the news, and access educational resources from your phone. 
• Mobile Commerce: The widespread adoption of cell phones has led to the growth of mobile Commerce, as users can now shop, make payments, and get deliveries. Companies use the impact of cell phones for advertising and marketing their products. 

The Future of Cell Phones

The future of cell phone technology is a topic that has been debated for decades. The potential of cell phone technology is already  limitless . Still, many experts predict that the next big thing for smartphones will be artificial intelligence (AI). 

https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/african-mid-woman-using-smartphone-at-home-gm1319763415-406531051?phrase=smartphone

This could allow for more personalized experiences, as our phones could learn our habits and preferences and make suggestions based on that information. We see improvements in virtual assistants like Siri and Alexa as they become more human-like in their responses and abilities.

In addition, new technologies are already being developed that could revolutionize how we interact with our phones. For example, the health industry is looking at how to incorporate smartphones into its  services . There is evidence that phones can help with the  treatment  of mental disorders. 

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Overall, the future of cell phones is bright and full of possibilities. We can expect to see continued advancements in wireless technology and new features that will make our lives easier and more connected than ever before.

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How mobile phones have changed our lives

James Bond has always been quick to adopt the latest technology, but most TV detective series from the 1970s and 80s seem somewhat comical today. The police are not able to catch the crook, because they are not able to find a phone booth, and the hero has to struggle for hours because he can’t make a phone call. This makes today’s viewers want to get out of their chairs and yell at the TV:

“Why don’t you use your mobile phone, you idiot?”

Mobile phones have quickly become taken as much for granted as electricity or central heating. We really don’t remember quite how life was before mobile phones existed.

No one expected it to be like this. When mobile phones were introduced, they were viewed as an exclusive form of telephone service that might possibly suit certain mobile workforces, such as craftsmen, photographers and repairmen.

But everyone underestimated the importance that mobile phones would assume for person-to-person communications. In the 1870s, when the telephone was introduced it was also regarded as a luxury for businessmen, doctors, craftsmen, etc. It was a device of dubious usefulness that certainly could not compete with the telegraph, which of course conveyed explicit written messages, not just idle chat. Before long, however, people began to find uses for the telephone, particularly among family and friends.

The telephone eliminated distance, while the mobile phone released people from the confines of space in much the same manner as the train, the car and the airplane. Above all, however, mobile phones provided freedom for those who previously had little power. The boss can no longer keep tabs on everyone. Young people can phone their friends without their parents knowing.

The mobile phone is now a part of our popular culture. New customs, rituals and routines are developing around what is being used every day. In the pre-industrial society people sang songs about planting and harvesting. In rock music, from the fifties and onwards, cars and motorbikes have been recurring themes. It is only natural that nowadays, in the post-industrialist world of IT we are listening to songs about mobile phones. Right now, in February of 2001, one of the biggest selling songs is Backstreet Boys’ “The Call”, which is about a mobile phone call.

The mobile phone has changed our attitudes and expectations. If people are late to a meeting, they are expected to notify others by calling on their mobile phones. It is no longer necessary to agree on when and where to meet. People can just call each other on their mobile phones and say where they are at the moment.

Probably the most interesting phenomenon, however, is that the mobile phone has freed us from the constraints of space. Through call forwarding from a fixed telephone, a phone call can go almost anywhere. After talking with your best friend for ten minutes, you realize that he is in Dubai. This, in turn, means that excuses, such as “He’s in Paris for two weeks and cannot be reached,” are no longer acceptable. What do you mean, he can’t be reached? Doesn’t he have his phone switched on?

People seem to be born to have a mobile phone in their hands. It is of course just an unfortunate circumstance that mobile phones were not available at the beginning of our existence on the savanna. If they had been, then man surely would have phoned home to the cave and said: “Light the fire, honey, because I’ll be home soon with half a lion.”

In the final analysis, mobile telephony is not a matter of radio waves and electronics, but rather human communication. We need to talk to each other, and that need has been paramount from the day we stood up on two legs. Communication is vital for our survival. Without talking to each other, we would quickly be eaten up by tigers, wolves or our own loneliness.

Author: Marika Ehrenkrona

From a brand commercial for the R310 mobile phone.

From a brand commercial for mobile phones, Shower.

Commercial, mobile phone, model A2618

Commercial, mobile phone, model R310 (female)

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How our phones became our whole lives in just 10 years, from a woman who resuscitates them

When did you last put pictures in a photo album? When did you last drop off a roll of film at a drugstore, then flip through the prints an hour later? It was probably some time before the last decade — given that, at the start of 2013 , more than 50 percent of American adults had a smartphone for the first time, and now more than 80 percent of us do.

Since we wrapped our fingers around the first touch-screen smartphones a decade ago , the family photo album has all but ceased to exist. But even as we no longer make albums of them, we are even more obsessed with taking pictures. We spend hours transcribing our entire lives into digits inside memory chips on our phones, and maybe posting some small percentage of them online.

Opinion Jamie Lee Curtis: Parents, put down your cellphones. Your kids are watching.

These photos are our lives now — we can all remember every important moment in an entire year in just a few minutes by scrolling through our camera roll. If it was notable, we took a picture. For the first time ever, we can visualize an entire life, including somebody else's.

My job is to recover these pictures and videos when things go wrong — sometimes very wrong. Each day, people from all over the world reach out to the iPad Rehab Microsoldering ’s team of former stay-at-home moms (and one dad) after one of life’s most gut-wrenching moments . They are staring at a dead phone, usually a loved one's, and realizing that the data they thought — or hoped — was backing up, wasn’t.

It is a beloved privilege to be trusted with the responsibility to recover these memories. We get to tell families every day “Great news, we got the pictures back!”

Opinion Stop lying about your life on social media

But what will become of these now-recovered pictures? Will they be printed, hung up and cherished, or will they rot on a USB stick never to be seen again, after the joy of the initial reunion fades? Few of us will ever really get around to loading those pictures onto the digital frame we always mean to buy. Our pictures tend to sit there on our individual phones, unseen, secure inside a tiny chip, because we are too busy spending our lives capturing newer pictures of sushi, birthday parties and sunsets you can almost see.

On a recent trip to New York City, I signed up for the sunset viewing at the top of the Rockefeller Center and, like everyone else, I took a picture. The picture I took, though, was a picture of all the people taking pictures. Some people there never did see the sun actually set — they just saw the view of the sunset through their phones, held high above their heads.

At my kids' recent holiday concert, like many a parent, I quietly ignored the principal’s request to turn off our cellphones and just enjoy the concert. Instead, I took a picture and posted it on social media right in the middle of the concert; the caption read, “I am filled with holiday joy that the six parents near me who are secretly videotaping the concert are all holding their phones in landscape mode.”

Opinion Broadway is locking up cellphones because audience members can't control themselves

It is possible we were better off when we were restricted to 24 carefully chosen shots on a tangible roll of film.

It's hard to imagine that this has all changed so much in 10 years, but it has. We suffer from a near-constant digital information overload; there is too much choice, and way too much noise. The sum of the knowledge of humanity is stuffed into our back pockets, as is access to nearly anything it can create. In the past, buying a new lawn chair would mean standing at a store and deciding between one with green woven canvas strips and one with blue. Today, it means scrolling through endless chair variations, struggling to distinguish fake reviews from genuine, and then being haunted by nagging ads stalking us everywhere we go online. Sometimes we simply give up.

We are part of a grand experiment: Never before have human brains been constantly exposed to the ceaseless parade of stimulation that pours from devices in our pockets.

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In order to be heard above the cacophony of the internet, even our news media is forced to shout increasingly polarizing viewpoints. To deal with the sheer volume of information, our brains seek to bundle and categorize — ”awesome” or “terrible” — and slowly lose the ability to notice and appreciate nuance. There is no longer a middle.

Through our phones, we stare into the lights of Las Vegas when we first wake up, and just before we try to sleep. How does this affect the biochemistry of our brain? We don’t know for sure, but studies are already suggesting the answer is “not good.”

A few weeks ago, I finally decided to give it all up ... well, for one night a week. Our family started an evening of digital respite, when we turn off our phones, tablets, computers and even the television. It is just as hard as it seems, and just as amazing.

Opinion Tech has turned us into screen addicts. Now it's time to delete all our apps.

Life “unplugged” feels dry and brittle at first. It is painful; I dread it each week. I’m dismayed to realize that feels emotionally identical to quitting smoking.

The amount of extra time, though, is phenomenal. Did you know that you can go sledding, stop by the library, make dinner and memorize all five verses of "Good King Wenceslas" before 7:00 p.m. on a Tuesday? In the second week, I laid on the bed feeling like a disgrace to my generation. What did we do with our time growing up without phones and computers? I couldn’t remember. That day I spent an hour just talking with my husband about “not work” and “not kids.” When was the last time we did that?

In the third week I found myself saying yes, out of boredom, to things to which I’d normally I’d say no. Can we make cookies? Yes. Can we make a gingerbread house? Yes. Do you want to go cross-country skiing with me? Yes. Will you read this book with me for two solid hours tonight? Yes. Will I remember these times more than a few gigabytes of buried digital memories? Definitely.

Opinion Arianna Huffington: Tech addiction is a bigger problem than people realize

I taught them things: We explored how to navigate without Google maps, how to live without looking up a weather forecast. They are now wholly convinced that, yes, it is indeed impossible for a human hand to break an intact egg; they know that teeth can do a fine job of it. I learned incredible details about the fabric of my children’s lives that I miss when obsessed with photo-documenting every moment.

Our phones are amazing. But we rely on them too much. We are addicted.

And, beyond that, the idea that they are helping us keep an incredible record of our lives that will persist for generations has more than a few caveats. Yes, our great-great-grandchildren will be able to get to "know" us in a way that is unprecedented — if we back up our data and find ways to pass down accessing it; I'm not sure my parents' eight-tracks or boxes of slides will be so useful to my kids.

But with the increasing complexity of mobile phone security and data encryption, the ability of people like me to recover these precious memories will become more and more limited without the support of the manufacturers. Back up your data and support the right to repair, or all those pictures you're taking to show the truth of your life to your kids one day won't be worth the silicon on which they're embedded. Plus, you have to have conversations with your family or your friends about what will happen to your phone, your pictures and your entire digital footprint when you die — or else large corporations and planned obsolescence will make those decisions for you in your absence.

In the meantime, though: Put your phone down. Watch a sunset. Enjoy your kid's school play as it happens. Make some cookies that exist only in your shared memories.

More from our decade reflections project:

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• Celebrities like Gwyneth Paltrow made the 2010s the decade of health and wellness misinformati on

• White Christian America ended in the 2010s

Jessa Jones, PhD., is the owner and founder of  iPadRehab , a small business in Honeoye Falls, N.Y., that uses (and teachers) microsoldering techniques to fix dead and water-damaged mobile devices and recover consumers’ data. She also advocates for the consumers right to repair any device they own.

21 Ways Smartphones Changed Our Way of Life

Can you believe how we used to look up directions?!

Before smartphones, life seemed a lot simpler. But when you really think about it, smartphones have made our lives significantly easier too. Here are 20 ways life was different before iPhones and Galaxy Notes changed everything.

Figuring Out Directions

Long before smartphones, if you wanted to get to a friend's house, visit a new place, or take a road trip, you had to take out an actual map to get from point A to point B. For those who didn’t own a map, they would have to get on their home computer, pull up MapQuest and print out the directions. A wrong turn could cause trouble, since there wasn't a GPS-enabled phone recalculating your route.

Taking Photos

Nowadays every smartphone has a high-quality camera, and most feature different modes: portrait, photo, pano, and beyond. Before that, digital or film cameras were a must on any trip or special outing. Digital cameras made it a bit easier since you could view photos immediately and access them fairly quickly. Film cameras involved a more timely process. You’d typically gather up your film, then drop it off at your closest CVS or Walgreens to get the film developed.

Sharing Photos

Even sharing photos was different back then. Before smartphones, you’d have to ask for double copies of your photos and then physically give the prints to your friends and family. Now, at the tap of a button you can text or Airdrop photos, or upload them to social media for everyone to view.

Smartphones have changed the world of dating indefinitely. Most people used to meet at parties, bars or through mutual friends. That changed though, when an explosion of dating apps entered the marketplace. Now, people can just sign into Tinder, Hinge or OkCupid and start swiping for prospective dates.

Long Distance Relationships

Long distance relationships are hard. You may go months without seeing your significant other. At least now, video chatting is super easy with FaceTime and other video chatting apps like Skype on your phone. Without smartphones, you’d have to wait until you were by a computer with internet access to log on and get that face-to-face interaction.

Working Remote

Sometimes you need to leave work early to catch a train or get to an event, but that doesn’t mean work ends when you leave. Before smartphones, you'd have to completely sign off and hope nothing needed your attention or response right away, at least until you got access to a computer again. This way of life doesn't sound too bad...can we go back to it?!

Cooking is made simple thanks to the internet's never-ending supply of delicious recipes to look up on mobile—plus, you can watch step-by-step videos walking you through the process right there at the kitchen counter. Before that though, you'd depend on handwritten recipe cards that you got from family members and have to call up Grandma directly if you had a question.

Informed Shopping

Before smartphones you may have rolled the dice on buying a new product or testing out an unknown brand. At least now you can look up product reviews right at the store, before you get to the register.

Staying in Touch

If you wanted to keep in touch with someone from your past, you’d have to be good at emailing, writing to one another or talking on the phone (as long as you didn't misplace your Rolodex). Social media has clearly changed that. You don’t even need to talk to the person to know what’s going on with their life now, and it's easy to touch base with all your contacts at your fingertips.

Stalking Your Ex

Staying in touch also has its negatives. It was a lot easier to move on from a breakup before smartphones. Now you can know what your ex is up to just by signing into Facebook.

Editing Photos

If you wanted to edit or modify your pictures, you’d have to hope your parents had Photoshop on their computers to do so. Today, mobile apps like Instagram and Snapchat allow the instant addition of filters, and more involved apps provide professional level photo editing capabilities.

Remembering Facts

It’s incredibly annoying when you can’t think of an actor’s name that starred in a movie. Before you’d just have to hope the people you were with could think of it or wait until you got home to look it up yourself. Enter the smartphone: ender of almost all historical debates.

When you had a check you needed to deposit in the bank, you’d have to get in your car and drive to your nearest branch. Now, online banking apps allow you to literally deposit checks from your couch. You just need to take a picture of your check and the money hits your account soon after.

Making Reservations

Snagging a table at your favorite restaurant meant having to talk to the hostess or manager but you can avoid all the talking by using OpenTable for your dining needs. Then cancel your reservation with minimal shame.

Checking Movie Times

Checking movie theatre times involved getting the newspaper out and looking up the times, or waiting for the drawn-out Moviefone recording to get to your showtimes. Now you can even select your seats from your phone!

Checking the Weather

Knowing the weather was in store used to mean turning the TV on and waiting for the weatherman to break down the hourly forecast. Guess what? There's an app for that!

Staying Current

Getting the news previously entailed watching your morning and evening news program or reading a physical newspaper. Now people digest their news through digital articles and even podcasts, and most phones send important updates in the form of push notifications.

Setting an Alarm

Back in the day, you'd have to buy a clunky alarm clock and set that to wake you up each day. Phones today not only wake you with whatever tone you desire - they also can track your sleep patterns and remind you when to hit the hay.

Listening To Music

If you had a decent music collection years ago, that probably meant a huge stack of CDs that had to be carried in a case for on-the-go listening. These days, your phone is able to store millions of songs and you can get immediate access to new releases through memberships like Apple Music and Spotify. Oh, and no need to lug around that bulky Sony Walkman—just don't forget your headphones!

Tracking Down Your Friends

If you wanted to know where your friends were, you’d have to call them or catch up with them in person. Now you can share your location via your smartphone or creepily look up your friends on apps like Snapchat or Find My Friends.

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Home Essay Samples Information Science and Technology Cell Phones

How Cell Phones Affect Our Lives

Table of contents, revolutionizing communication, altering social interactions, impact on productivity, health and well-being considerations, changing work dynamics, references:.

• Chóliz, M. (2010). Mobile phone addiction: A point of issue. Addiction Research & Theory, 18(4), 489-494.
• Clifford, S., & Valdespino, A. (2019). Are you phubbing right now? The Journal of Social Psychology, 159(4), 449-454.
• Kuss, D. J., & Griffiths, M. D. (2017). Social networking sites and addiction: Ten lessons learned. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 14(3), 311.
• Roberts, J. A., & David, M. E. (2016). My life has become a major distraction from my cell phone: Partner phubbing and relationship satisfaction among romantic partners. Computers in Human Behavior, 54, 134-141.
• Rosen, L. D., Carrier, L. M., & Cheever, N. A. (2013). Facebook and texting made me do it: Media-induced task-switching while studying. Computers in Human Behavior, 29(3), 948-958.

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AT THE SMITHSONIAN

Smithsonian Podcast

How the Cell Phone Is Forever Changing Human Communication

An ongoing study by Smithsonian anthropologists investigates the dramatic shifts wrought by the smart phone

Smithsonianmag.com

Nearly 10 years ago, the first ever iPhone was released, thus changing the course of human interaction. What was once an organic process that occurred in a more personal manner, the imposition of a new form of communication has redefined the way in which humans build relationships and determine social rank. An incorrectly used exclamation point could end a friendship or a picture taken with the wrong individual could cause a plummet in social standing if uploaded to Instagram.

Sure -- it may sound ridiculous that Snapchat, an application through which friends send pictures that can only be viewed for a few seconds before deletion, has the ability to destroy relationships, but cell phones have started a new type of conversation, one that has catalyzed the restructuring of our social environment.

Every picture, every snapchat, every punctuation mark is part of a new form of language brought about by a new tool of communication.

Anthropologists Alex Dent, Joel Kuipers and Josh Bell are in the first year of a three-year study that looks at cell phones trouble among teens. Josh, a curator at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History is investigating why apps like Instagram and Snapchat have the ability to uproot a social environment.

“It’s giving kind of a visual, tangible, index of your friendship, right? Which is interesting and there are all these different emoticons that indicate if I’m a friend with you and you’re not a friend with me,” says Bell.

The lack of face-to-face interaction is depersonalizing the way in which we communicate and, according to Bell, may depersonalize humans altogether. There is an absence of vulnerability in conversation smart phone and this deficiency may translate into substantial changes in human sociology. As for now Bell’s findings remain ‘unposted’ like a photo just taken by a teen.

With two years left on the study, however, it will likely take a comparable amount of time to edit, filter, and complete for publishing.

Get the latest on what's happening At the Smithsonian in your inbox.

The Telecommunications History Group Blog

A time before phones: the inventions leading up to the telephone.

• Previous Post

Morse/Vail telegraph key, 1844. This key was used to send the message “What Hath God Wrought” on the experimental line between Washington, DC and Baltimore, Maryland. (Smithsonian Photo by Alfred Harrell.)

Timelines Converge

The development of all the bits and pieces of the telephone make for interesting reading all by themselves (or perhaps you haven’t yet read the other articles in this section!), but it is at least as interesting looking over the various inventions that lead up to the telephone—and finding out just how many inventions went into making the phone possible.

What follows is a timeline taking us from the time before phones to the development of the phone itself.

Smoke Signals

The need to communicate has driven much development in human history, and the need to communicate over distances too great to shout over has been just as important. From smoke signals to semaphore, from signposts to sending letters via messenger, we have discovered faster and more effective means of communicating. Still, it became more and more necessary to communicate instantly (as when a battalion of soldiers needed to move to help their compatriots, or a government needed to stop a war entirely), and so messengers were too slow; and to communicate over more than line-of-sight distances (again, a government, say the ancient Romans, trying to stop its troops from fighting is a good example, unless the troops are all stationed in the Senate chambers to begin with).

One solution was a chain of signals—either smoke, flags, or signal fires—and this was used for thousands of years all over the world. It did, however, still have drawbacks, including that it took only one failed signal in the chain (due to sleepy guards, wood too wet to light, or what-have-you) to make the whole thing an act of futility.

But how else does one communicate beyond the sound of one’s voice and the line of one’s sight?

Electricity

As seems to have happened with a lot of things in history, electricity was “discovered”—or at least static electricity was—and then “forgotten” and then “discovered” again. The ancient Greeks, perhaps as early as 600 BC, had learned that they could create a static charge on amber by rubbing it, and that this charge could attract small bits of paper and other extremely light objects. They most likely also found out that you could shock your nearest friend with a static spark, but nobody seems to have thought that important enough to write down for posterity.

Little was done with this knowledge until around 1600 AD, when William Gilbert, an English scientist, published “De magnete, magneticisique corporibus” or “On the Magnet,” a treatise describing all of his experiments with what he called “electricity,” after the Greek word for amber. He talked about electric force, magnetic poles, electric attraction, and even the magnetic compass.

Lots of people became interested in static charges and electricity (and very soon were also interested in its relation to magnetism), and in fact it was discovered that electric impulses could be sent down a wire (as performed in 1729 by English chemist Stephen Gray). Still, the static electricity was fairly useless without some method of storing it, or of calling it up at will.

Leyden Jar being discharged (unknown)

Holding Lightning in a Bottle (Leyden Jar)

In or around 1745 the Leyden Jar was invented by Dutchman Pieter van Musschenbroek. A Leyden Jar finally allowed the storage of static (or any other kind of) electricity. Through applying an electric charge to the electrode, one would set up a situation in which positive and negative charges accumulated from the two metal coatings on the outside and inside of the jar, but these charges could not discharge because of the glass between them. The only way for the charge to dissipate was to provide a discharge path, for instance by touching the electrode with a conductive object, like copper or your finger (which would be a very bad idea).

Diagram of Leyden Jar (from Tom Farley’s Privateline.com)

According to Privateline.com, in 1753 an unknown writer in The Scot’s Magazine posited that one could transmit messages using electricity, and through a complicated set of wires (at least 26, one for each letter of the alphabet), bits of paper representing each letter, and an electrostatic generator one could send messages. The generator would send an electric impulse down the line for the letter you wanted to “type,” and the bit of paper representing that letter at the other end would be attracted to the line. This sort of thing worked well enough, but it was very cumbersome and could only work over a couple of miles.

Benjamin Franklin, of kite-and-lightning fame, created a set of bells sometime in the mid- to late 1700s that would ring due to electrical charges attracting and then repelling one another if he charged a bell in the first place. One way to do this was with the Leyden Jar. Another was to attach the bells to a lightning rod; then, whenever a lightning storm approached, the bells would go off.

But even with the ability to store static electricity and discharge it, there were difficulties, the most important of which was static’s inability to really be very energetic. While it could attract a light ball or a bit of paper, it couldn’t do much more, and it could only do it once the Leyden Jar had been charged, which took time.

Art depicting Volta’s battery, alternating two metals and brine-soaked paper (unknown).

Better Lightning through Chemistry (Batteries)

Inventors and scientists being an inventive, creative, and curious lot, they spent the next few decades looking for an answer to the static charge problem. They tried many materials and many ways of generating electric charges, including many metals and even organic (as in biological) substances, but no one hit upon the right combination until 1800. In that year, Alessandro Volta of Italy created a tower of alternating discs of zinc and copper (or silver; authorities disagree as to which was used), with pieces of blotting paper soaked in brine (salt water) between, and the contraption produced electrical current. How? Through a chemical reaction between the metals, which caused a flow of electrons to move from one end of the battery to the other if the two ends were connected by a conductive material. If one attached a wire to one end, then looped it around and connected it to the other end of the battery (or “voltaic pile,” as it came to be known), one created a circuit in which electrons flowed (or were forced by the chemical reaction between the metals) from one end of the pile to the other, then were forced out by the continuing flow into the wire, then flowed back to the other end of the battery and were sucked in by the chemical action of the battery pulling electrons in one end and forcing them out the other. And so on, for as long as the chemical reaction continued. These first batteries worked for a very short time (say, closer to tens of minutes than to days or months), but could be made more powerful simply by adding more alternating layers of metals and brine-soaked paper.

Of course, a battery meant electrically powered objects, and a steady electrical current, which of course most old phones and certainly all new ones need; in fact, the quest for better and better batteries has continued since Volta’s time, resulting in highly effective combinations like Nickel-Cadmium.

Surviving Henry electromagnet, which he termed “quantity magnet.” (Smithsonian neg. no. 39040).

Magnetic Personalities (Electromagnets)

Of course, getting electric current running through your phone is one thing, but getting it to do anything is another. And a key to that is electromagnetism.

The discoverer of electromagnetism was Danish physicist Christian Oersted. In 1820, during a classroom demonstration, he discovered that current running through a wire caused a compass needle to shift. (The demonstration is rumored to have been on heating and electricity, and the compass was in its position accidentally; however, accounts differ, with Oersted indicating that the compass was there on purpose to test precisely the effects of electricity on it, while student accounts state that the lecture was on heating and electricity and had nothing to do with magnetism.)

Whatever the case, this discovery lead to the idea that an electric current creates a magnetic field, and indicated that the reverse—a magnetic field creating an electric current—was possible.

Pushing Electricity with Your Hand (Faraday)

Ten years after Oersted’s discovery, Michael Faraday of London made a discovery of his own—how to reverse the process. First, using an “induction ring,” which consisted of wire wrapped in a coil around an iron ring, he discovered electromagnetic induction, or a way to generate electricity from magnetism. Then, in another set of experiments, he discovered that by rotating a copper disc (with wires attached) between the poles of a horseshoe magnet, he could induce not only a current, but a steady current that could be used in lieu of a battery to send electrical power through wires.

This finally allowed electricity—which had been a capricious ally at best—to be used as a source of power for whatever inventors could come up with. It’s relationship with magnets meant it could move metal objects, and the eventual discovery (by James Clerk Maxwell in 1865) that all electromagnetic phenomena can be described as waves moving through space lead eventually to radio communication (put to practical use by Guglielmo Marconi by the beginning of the 20th century and eventually used to carry phone conversations over long distances—see our article on long distance).

The telegraph is the immediate predecessor to the telephone; in fact, many people thought the telephone was unnecessary, as the telegraph already performed the function of instantly sending a message down a wire to an anxious party on the other end. Why add the novelty of voice to the mix? This thinking lead Western Union (the giant of the telegraph industry) to refuse Bell’s offer to buy the patents to the telephone in 1876 and changed the course of telephone history.

The telegraph had its origins in experiments by Professor Joseph Henry of the Albany Academy in New York. Henry was a preeminent scientist, creating an electromagnet powerful enough to send significant electrical energy over great distances, and he later became the first director of the Smithsonian Institution.

In 1831 Henry demonstrated, in his classroom, that electricity could be used to ring a bell from a distance. He strung a mile of copper wire inside the Academy, connected this to an electromagnet, placed a pivoting steel bar next to this, and placed a bell next to the bar. He then completed the circuit by connecting the ends of his wiring to a battery. When he did so, the electricity flowing down the wires from the battery caused the electromagnet to become magnetic, which then attracted the steel bar, which swung and hit the bell. Turning the magnet off (by removing the wires from the battery) caused the steel bar to swing back away from the bell, back to its natural resting position. Connecting the circuit again caused the bell to ring again … and so forth. Although this was very much like Franklin’s bells (see above), the key was that now the bell could be rung over a distance, at will.

Morse/Vail telegraph register, 1844. This register was used to receive the message “What Hath God Wrought” on the experimental line between Washington, DC and Baltimore, Maryland. (Smithsonian Photo by Alfred Harrell).

Morse eventually received public funding to test his device by setting up a line between Baltimore and Washington, DC. As he was setting up the line in 1844, the Whig party nominated Henry Clay as its presidential candidate. This news was hand-carried to the newly-laid telegraph wire (which had reached Annapolis Junction, still miles away). The news was sent by telegraph back to Washington and became the first signal sent down the line.

Three weeks later, on May 24, 1844, the line officially opened with the message, “What hath God wrought?” (a bit of irony chosen by Annie Ellsworth, a daughter of a friend of Morse). Less than ten years later, Morse had wrought a change in the communications industry like no other. Nearly 25,000 miles of telepgraph wire had been laid across the country, the telegraph was being used to dispatch trains, and communication had never been easier. By 1861, Western Union built a transcontinental telegraph line, and the telegraph had made itself an integral part of the US landscape.

A Sausage Skin (and a Bit of Variable Resistance) Away from a Telephone

Even as the telegraph was taking off, some people were thinking of ways to transmit speech, rather than mere impulses of electricity, down wires. M. Charles Bourseul, a French telegraphist, came up with the idea of using a “movable disc” that “alternately makes and breaks the currents from a battery: you may have at a distance another disc which will simultaneously execute the same vibrations” (L’Illustration de Paris, 1854 magazine).

Then in 1861, fifteen years before the invention of a working telephone, Johann Phillip Reis, a German physicist and teacher, completed an almost-but-not-quite-working version of the telephone. Using parts of a beer barrel, a sausage skin, and a piece of platinum, he managed to send musical notes down a line to a receiver, which then played the notes. Unfortunately, he was trying to make a telephone using the same principle as the telegraph—by making and breaking circuits. While this worked fine for dots, dashes, and notes all of one pitch, it could not re-create the human voice, as speech is a continually changing sound, rather than a discrete set of sounds. It would take the concept of variable resistance, and of sending an uninterrupted current through the wiring, to create the telephone and with it the next communications revolution.

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19 Ways Life Was Completely Different Before Smartphones

By Tanya | Sep 06, 2023

Having a smartphone these days is almost a necessity. You need them for work, you need them to talk to your friends, and you really just need them for basically everything else. They come in handy, sure, but it's hard not to look back on the days of being "off the grid" and remember how good that felt?

When we were young, we didn't need to keep up with our friends and family at all times. We could just enjoy our day, talk to the people we were around, and actually go to the things we said we would at the right time instead of texting last minute to say "I can't come."

Seriously, just think about how much times have changed...

1. the youngest kids are getting phones now, and they know how to type faster than i do.

I think most kids these days know how to use an iPhone before they know how to use a toilet.

2. If we wanted to make a call when we were out and about we needed to use a quarter

If the phone was broken (which it always seemed to be) you had to keep walking until you found another one.

3. You couldn't just go anywhere to talk on the phone, there was a very limited range of motion

Phone cords were a pain in the ass, and our parents would never let us have a phone in our rooms.

4. Eventually we would all just give up and camp out on the living room or kitchen floor

Who cares if your siblings hear your conversations, even if they weren't in the same room they would have been listening in anyways.

5. You want to find your friends? Well, if they left the house there is no real way to track them down without going outside and looking for them. Are they at the park? Are they at Billy's house? Are they out on adventure? You'll never know until you go out there and start looking

You'd only be able to find them if you could recognize their bikes. Luckily, we all spent about 85% of our time riding around with our friends so we knew our bikes better than anything.

6. Taking pictures on the go? You had VERY limited options. You could get a disposable camera, a film camera, or one of these super impressive Game Boy cameras. Obviously the photo quality was impeccable

Selfies weren't really as fun when they get printed out on receipt paper and then immediately lost. I guess it was like the original Snap Chat.

7. Sending messages to your friends was a bit more of an origami event than it is now

They were extra tricky because it wasn't like there was a password to keep other people from reading it. If it got lost, someone else was going to know your secrets.

8. Dialing a phone was kind of a hassle

Who else had a rotary phone? What a nightmare right?

9. Although there really were some perks to it... Hanging up a cell phone will never have the same level of satisfaction that hanging up a land line will

There is no better feeling than slamming down the receiver when you're angry.

10. After you've hung up on them, there was only one option to get them to stop calling back

My parents would often leave the phone off the hook during dinner to make sure telemarketers wouldn't call and spoil our family time.

But those aren't the only things we remember about the time before cellphones...

11. memes weren't a thing in our childhood, but that didn't mean we didn't try to show other people funny stuff.

Sure, everything was backwards and looked a little bit stretched out, but whatever, we tried.

12. Simple things like a trip to the bathroom was a whole different experience when you didn't have a smart phone to stare at, and anytime we forget our phones now it feels like we've time traveled

There's always one thing that will be in the bathroom without fail: shampoo bottles.

13. We didn't have emojis to text to our friends, so our secret notes were jam-packed full of the secret codes we had worked out using symbols and simple pictures we could draw, or sometimes if we were lucky, we had the stamper makers to help out

Did anyone else find that the markers would fade out so much faster than other markers?

14. Music wasn't something we could travel with easily. You either needed a full CD wallet, or a whole bunch of tapes, but it wasn't convenient. Enter Hit Clips.

You want to listen to a few seconds of the same songs over and over again? Perfect, have we got the option for you. These little chips could fit on a key ring, but keep in mind you only have a few seconds of the song so it'll likely leave you wanting more.

15. Collect calls saved us so much money. Sounds counter-intuitive, but when you figure out how to game the system, you're all set

You just need to learn how to talk really fast, but then you can get your mom to come get you after the movie was done without spending the quarter that you absolutely used to buy vending machine candy.

16. And then came the cellphones... But they weren't as 'smart' right off the bat. They didn't hold all your music, or take pictures, or surf the web

You had to carry around a bunch of devices if you be able to play music, make calls, take pictures, and get directions.

17. Texting was honestly a bit of a hassle

Sure, it isn't the world's biggest struggle, not by a long shot. But who else remembers that disappointment when you get the the 'S' but then accidentally hit it just once more?

18. The plans were also a little bit less forgiving

I remember my first cellphone plan didn't even include texting. They cost five cents per message, and that counted for coming in and going out. So if you had a particularly chatty friend it would add up real fast.

19. But of course, there were some benefits...

When your phone can't really do much, the battery lasted for roughly a thousand years. Rumor has it that the first Nokia phone ever is still sitting at 74% battery...

Do you remember a time before smartphones?

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• VALLEY OF THE BOOM

Smartphones revolutionize our lives—but at what cost?

The computer in our hands can do astonishing things, but new studies show just how dramatically they’re distracting us.

Not long ago, as happens almost every day, I got a Skype call on my smartphone from my dad, who lives in Kolkata, India. My dad is 79 and doesn’t get out very much, having become increasingly housebound. On this day, I was traveling by train from Denmark to Sweden. Speaking to him, I held my phone up against the window, its camera lens facing out. We both took in the view of the Swedish countryside as the train pulled out from Malmo and sped toward Lund. For a brief while, it felt like we were traveling together.

For that moment of connection, and many others like it, my phone deserves my gratitude. But the same device has become a source of relentless distraction in my life, intruding upon my attention with frightening regularity and diminishing my in-person interactions with family and friends. On a visit to Kolkata to see my dad, I found myself reaching for my phone every few minutes in the middle of our conversation to scan my Facebook feed and see if a photo I’d recently posted had garnered any fresh likes. (It had! And comments, too!)

Over the past decade, smartphones have revolutionized our lives in ways that go well beyond how we communicate. Besides calling, texting, and emailing, more than two billion people around the world now use these devices to navigate, to book cab rides, to compare product reviews and prices, to follow the news, to watch movies, to listen to music, to play video games, to memorialize vacations, and, not least of all, to participate in social media.

It’s incontrovertible that smartphone technology has yielded many benefits for society, such as allowing millions of people who lack access to banks to conduct financial transactions, for instance, or enabling rescue workers in a disaster zone to pinpoint precisely where their help is needed most urgently. There are apps available for smartphone users to monitor how much they’re walking during the day and how well they’re sleeping at night. New applications of the technology emerge seemingly daily: Your smartphone can now help you stay on top of your children’s dental hygiene by tracking how long they’re brushing their teeth with their Bluetooth-enabled toothbrushes. (My wife and I decided that this was a bit much.)

These benefits, however, seem to have come at a high cost to our mental and social lives. The constant connectivity and access to information that smartphones offer have made the devices something of a drug for hundreds of millions of users. Scientists are just beginning to research this phenomenon, but their studies suggest that we are becomingly increasingly distracted, spending less time in the real world and being drawn more deeply into the virtual world.

The power they hold over us is glaringly evident in our everyday habits and behaviors. Remembering directions is a thing of the past—we habitually rely on our phones to get anywhere, even to destinations we’ve visited numerous times before. The most compulsive users among us keep our phones within clutching distance at all times, reaching for them even when we wake up in the middle of the night. At airports, on college campuses, at the mall, at the stoplight—at almost any public place you can think of—the most common sight of our time is that of people with bowed heads, looking intently at their phones. If you see someone in a café sipping coffee and staring out the window, it’s less likely that they’re enjoying a quiet moment and more likely that their device has simply run out of charge.

Our use of smartphones has effectively changed the geography of our minds, creating a distractive off-ramp for every thought we might have on our own. “What I’ve seen in the last six to eight years is a massive paradigm shift—much of the attentional resource that we devoted to our personal ecosystem has been shifted to what’s virtual,” says Larry Rosen, an emeritus professor of psychology at California State University in Dominguez Hills and co-author of The Distracted Mind: Ancient Brains in a Hi-Tech World. “That means you are not attending to what’s in front of you. We see this in parenting—you are not focusing on your kids. You’re not even focusing on what you’re watching on television because you’re second-screening. It’s affecting every aspect of our lives, and sadly, I don’t think the pendulum has swung as far as it will go.”

Researchers have begun documenting the impact of smartphones on our ability to focus. In one study, Adrian Ward, a psychologist at the University of Texas at Austin, and his colleagues gave 800 participants two challenging mental tasks—solving a math problem while memorizing a random sequence of letters and selecting an image out of a few options to complete a visual pattern. Some participants were asked to leave their smartphones in another room while others were allowed to keep their smartphones in their pockets. Still other participants kept their smartphones on a desk in front of them. Although the phones played no role in the tasks, how accessible the phones were had an effect on how well the participants were able to perform them. Those who had left their phones in another room fared the best. Those with the phones placed in front of them did the worst. But even those who had tucked their phones in their pockets were found to have diminished cognitive capacity.

Researchers worry that addiction to smartphones could dull the ability of young users to read and comprehend texts, which in turn could have adverse impacts on their critical thinking. These concerns are based on the results of studies such as one conducted by psychologist Anne Mangen and her colleagues at the University of Stavanger in Norway. They divided 72 students in the 10th grade into two groups, asking one group to read two texts on paper and the other to read the same texts as PDFs on a screen. The print readers did much better on a reading comprehension test than the digital readers.

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Another study, conducted at the University of British Columbia, lends support to what many of us have concluded from first-hand experience: Smartphone use can adversely affect social interactions in the real world. The researchers, led by Ryan Dwyer, a doctoral student in psychology, asked more than 300 participants to have a meal at a restaurant with friends or family, instructing some to keep their phones on the table and others to put their phones away. Those who had their phones in front of them reported feeling more distracted during the conversation and enjoyed the meal less than the others.

“When people had access to their phones, they were also more bored, which is not what we were expecting,” Dwyer says. Having your phone on the table while dining, he adds, is “probably not going to ruin your meal, but it could chip away at your enjoyment.” The toll exacted by this phenomenon on close family relationships is easy to extrapolate.

The reason why it’s become so hard for us to set aside our phones, even at mealtimes, isn’t hard to understand. “It’s well known that if you want to keep a person dialed into something, give them a reward at variable times,” explains Ethan Kross, a psychologist at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. “Turns out, that’s exactly what email or social media does—you don’t know when you’ll get another like or receive your next email, and so we keep checking.”

Our compulsivity seems to be getting worse, according to a study by Rosen and his colleagues in which they’ve been keeping track of smartphone use by high school students and young adults. Using apps that count the number of times a phone gets unlocked, the researchers found that participants had gone from unlocking their phones about 56 times a day in 2016 to 73 times a day in 2018. “That’s a huge increase,” Rosen says.

Some of the blame lies with notifications, which can be turned off. Another factor is “the anxieties that are in your head,” Rosen says, and these too can be addressed with efforts like mindfulness and meditation. A third and more insidious factor, according to Rosen, is the way technology companies have “carefully orchestrated their apps and their websites to get your eyeballs there, to keep them there and to keep them coming back.”

Responding to these criticisms, phone makers have developed apps to help users monitor their phone screen time. But it’s unclear if apps like Apple’s Screen Time and Google Android’s Digital Well Being will help users curtail the time they spend on their phones. In a study of high school seniors, Rosen and his team found that the study participants did check screen time monitoring apps occasionally and did learn that they’d been spending more time on their phones than they’d thought. But they determined that about half of them made no changes to their behavior. (The researchers are following up to find out what changes the others made.)

Rosen admits to being hooked himself. As a news junkie, he’s constantly opening up Apple News on his phone. “Most of the time, there’s nothing new, but every once in a while, a new story shows up, giving me a positive reinforcement to do it more often,” he says.

Learning to live with the technology without surrendering to it may be one of the biggest challenges we face in the digital era. “We are playing catch-up,” says Kross, who describes the experiential universe opened up by smartphones as a new ecosystem that we’re still adapting to. “There are helpful or harmful ways of navigating the offline world, and the same is true of the digital world.”

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I asked my students to turn in their cell phones and write about living without them

• Ron Srigley archive page

A few years ago, I performed an experiment in a philosophy class I was teaching. My students had failed a midterm test rather badly. I had a hunch that their pervasive use of cell phones and laptops in class was partly responsible. So I asked them what they thought had gone wrong. After a few moments of silence, a young woman put up her hand and said: “We don’t understand what the books say, sir. We don’t understand the words.” I looked around the class and saw guileless heads pensively nodding in agreement.

I extemporized a solution: I offered them extra credit if they would give me their phones for nine days and write about living without them. Twelve students—about a third of the class—took me up on the offer. What they wrote was remarkable, and remarkably consistent. These university students, given the chance to say what they felt, didn’t gracefully submit to the tech industry and its devices.

The usual industry and education narrative about cell phones, social media, and digital technology generally is that they build community, foster communication, and increase efficiency, thus improving our lives. Mark Zuckerberg’s recent reformulation of Facebook’s mission statement is typical: the company aims to “give people the power to build community and bring the world closer together.”

Without their phones, most of my students initially felt lost, disoriented, frustrated, and even frightened. That seemed to support the industry narrative: look how disconnected and lonely you’ll be without our technology. But after just two weeks, the majority began to think that their cell phones were in fact limiting their relationships with other people, compromising their own lives, and somehow cutting them off from the “real” world. Here is some of what they said.

“You must be weird or something”

“Believe it or not, I had to walk up to a stranger and ask what time it was. It honestly took me a lot of guts and confidence to ask someone,” Janet wrote. (Her name, like the others here, is a pseudonym.) She describes the attitude she was up against: “Why do you need to ask me the time? Everyone has a cell phone. You must be weird or something.” Emily went even further. Simply walking by strangers “in the hallway or when I passed them on the street” caused almost all of them to take out a phone “right before I could gain eye contact with them.”

To these young people, direct, unmediated human contact was experienced as ill-mannered at best and strange at worst. James: “One of the worst and most common things people do nowadays is pull out their cell phone and use it while in a face-to-face conversation. This action is very rude and unacceptable, but yet again, I find myself guilty of this sometimes because it is the norm.” Emily noticed that “a lot of people used their cell phones when they felt they were in an awkward situation, for an example [sic] being at a party while no one was speaking to them.”

Without their phones, most of my students initially felt lost, but after just two weeks the majority began to think that their cell phones were in fact limiting their relationships with other people.

The price of this protection from awkward moments is the loss of human relationships, a consequence that almost all the students identified and lamented. Without his phone, James said, he found himself forced to look others in the eye and engage in conversation. Stewart put a moral spin on it. “Being forced to have [real relations with people] obviously made me a better person because each time it happened I learned how to deal with the situation better, other than sticking my face in a phone.” Ten of the 12 students said their phones were compromising their ability to have such relationships.

Virtually all the students admitted that ease of communication was one of the genuine benefits of their phones. However, eight out of 12 said they were genuinely relieved not to have to answer the usual flood of texts and social-media posts. Peter: “I have to admit, it was pretty nice without the phone all week. Didn’t have to hear the fucking thing ring or vibrate once, and didn’t feel bad not answering phone calls because there were none to ignore.”

Indeed, the language they used indicated that they experienced this activity almost as a type of harassment. “It felt so free without one and it was nice knowing no one could bother me when I didn’t want to be bothered,” wrote William. Emily said that she found herself “sleeping more peacefully after the first two nights of attempting to sleep right away when the lights got shut off.” Several students went further and claimed that communication with others was in fact easier and more efficient without their phones. Stewart: “Actually I got things done much quicker without the cell because instead of waiting for a response from someone (that you don’t even know if they read your message or not) you just called them [from a land line], either got an answer or didn’t, and moved on to the next thing.”

Technologists assert that their instruments make us more productive. But for the students, phones had the opposite effect. “Writing a paper and not having a phone boosted productivity at least twice as much,” Elliott claimed. “You are concentrated on one task and not worrying about anything else. Studying for a test was much easier as well because I was not distracted by the phone at all.” Stewart found he could “sit down and actually focus on writing a paper.” He added, “Because I was able to give it 100% of my attention, not only was the final product better than it would have been, I was also able to complete it much quicker.” Even Janet, who missed her phone more than most, admitted, “One positive thing that came out of not having a cell phone was that I found myself more productive and I was more apt to pay attention in class.”

Some students felt not only distracted by their phones, but morally compromised. Kate: “Having a cell phone has actually affected my personal code of morals and this scares me … I regret to admit that I have texted in class this year, something I swore to myself in high school that I would never do … I am disappointed in myself now that I see how much I have come to depend on technology … I start to wonder if it has affected who I am as a person, and then I remember that it already has.” And James, though he says we must continue to develop our technology, said that “what many people forget is that it is vital for us not to lose our fundamental values along the way.”

Other students were worried that their cell-phone addiction was depriving them of a relationship to the world. Listen to James: “It is almost like the earth stood still and I actually looked around and cared about current events ... This experiment has made many things clear to me and one thing is for sure, I am going to cut back the time I am on my cell phone substantially.”

Stewart said he began to see how things “really work” once he was without his phone: “One big thing I picked up on while doing this assignment is how much more engaged I was in the world around me … I noticed that the majority of people were disengaged … There is all this potential for conversation, interaction, and learning from one another but we’re too distracted by the screens … to partake in the real events around us.”

In parentis, loco

Some parents were pleased with their children’s phone-less selves. James said his mother “thought it was great that I did not have my phone because I paid more attention to her while she was talking.” One parent even proposed to join in the experiment.

But for some of the students, phones were a lifeline to their parents. As Karen Fingerman of the University of Texas at Austin wrote in a 2017 article in the journal Innovation in Aging, in the mid to late 20th century, “only half of [American] parents reported contact with a grown child at least once a week.” By contrast, she writes, recent studies find that “nearly all” parents of young adults were in weekly contact with their children, and over half were in daily contact by phone, by text message, or in person.

The city in which these students lived has one of the lowest crime rates in the world and almost no violent crime of any kind, yet they experienced a pervasive, undefined fear.

Emily wrote that without her cell phone, “I felt like I was craving some interaction from a family member. Either to keep my ass in line with the upcoming exams, or to simply let me know someone is supporting me.” Janet admitted, “The most difficult thing was defiantly [sic] not being able to talk to my mom or being able to communicate with anyone on demand or at that present moment. It was extremely stressful for my mom.”

Safety was also a recurrent theme. Janet said, “Having a cell phone makes me feel secure in a way. So having that taken away from me changed my life a little. I was scared that something serious might happen during the week of not having a cell phone.” And she wondered what would have happened “if someone were to attack me or kidnap me or some sort of action along those lines or maybe even if I witnessed a crime take place, or I needed to call an ambulance.”

What’s revealing is that this student and others perceived the world to be a very dangerous place. Cell phones were seen as necessary to combat that danger. The city in which these students lived has one of the lowest crime rates in the world and almost no violent crime of any kind, yet they experienced a pervasive, undefined fear.

Live in fragments no longer

My students’ experience of cell phones and the social-media platforms they support may not be exhaustive, or statistically representative. But it is clear that these gadgets made them feel less alive, less connected to other people and to the world, and less productive. They also made many tasks more difficult and encouraged students to act in ways they considered unworthy of themselves. In other words, phones didn’t help them. They harmed them.

I first carried out this exercise in 2014. I repeated it last year in the bigger, more urban institution where I now teach. The occasion this time wasn’t a failed test; it was my despair over the classroom experience in its entirety. I want to be clear here—this is not personal. I have a real fondness for my students as people. But they’re abysmal students; or rather, they aren’t really students at all, at least not in my class. On any given day, 70% of them are sitting before me shopping, texting, completing assignments, watching videos, or otherwise occupying themselves. Even the “good” students do this. No one’s even trying to conceal the activity, the way students did before. This is just what they do.

In their world I’m the distraction, not their phones or their social-media profiles or their networking. Yet for what I’m supposed to be doing—educating and cultivating young hearts and minds—the consequences are pretty dark.

What’s changed? Most of what they wrote in the assignment echoed the papers I’d received in 2014. The phones were compromising their relationships, cutting them off from real things, and distracting them from more important matters. But there were two notable differences. First, for these students, even the simplest activities—getting on the bus or train, ordering dinner, getting up in the morning, even knowing where they were—required their cell phones. As the phone grew more ubiquitous in their lives, their fear of being without it seemed to grow apace. They were jittery, lost, without them.

This may help to explain the second difference: compared with the first batch, this second group displayed a fatalism about phones. Tina’s concluding remarks described it well: “Without cell phones life would be simple and real but we may not be able to cope with the world and our society. After a few days I felt alright without the phone as I got used to it. But I guess it is only fine if it is for a short period of time. One cannot hope to compete efficiently in life without a convenient source of communication that is our phones.” Compare this admission with the reaction of Peter, who a few months after the course in 2014 tossed his smartphone into a river.

I think my students are being entirely rational when they “distract” themselves in my class with their phones. They understand the world they are being prepared to enter much better than I do. In that world, I’m the distraction, not their phones or their social-media profiles or their networking. Yet for what I’m supposed to be doing—educating and cultivating young hearts and minds—the consequences are pretty dark.

Paula was about 28, a little older than most students in the class. She’d returned to college with a real desire to learn after working for almost a decade following high school. I’ll never forget the morning she gave a presentation to a class that was even more alternatively engaged than usual. After it was all over, she looked at me in despair and said, simply: “How in the world do you do this?”

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Home — Essay Samples — Information Science and Technology — Digital Devices — Cell Phones

Essays on Cell Phones

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Cell Phones – The Most Significant Invention Made by Humans

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Analysis of The Influence of Mobile Phones Usage on Human Interaction

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Cell Phones and Your Brain

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Cell phones, also known as mobile phones or cellular phones, are portable electronic devices used for communication and various other functions. They are equipped with wireless communication technologies that allow users to make and receive calls, send and receive text messages, access the internet, and use a wide range of applications and features.

The history of cell phones can be traced back to the mid-20th century when mobile communication technology began to take shape. In 1947, Bell Labs introduced the concept of cellular telephony, proposing the idea of dividing cities into small cells served by a central tower. However, it wasn't until the 1970s that the first practical cellular networks were developed. In 1973, Martin Cooper, an engineer at Motorola, made the first public mobile phone call using a handheld device. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, cell phones evolved from bulky and expensive devices to more compact and affordable ones. The introduction of digital networks and advancements in technology led to smaller and more feature-rich mobile phones. The 2000s witnessed a significant shift with the emergence of smartphones, which combined telephony with computing capabilities and internet access. Today, cell phones have become an integral part of modern life, revolutionizing communication, information access, and even transforming various industries.

Martin Cooper: Widely regarded as the "father of the cell phone," Martin Cooper was an engineer at Motorola who made the first public mobile phone call in 1973. His pioneering work laid the foundation for the modern cell phone industry. Steve Jobs: As the co-founder of Apple Inc., Steve Jobs revolutionized the mobile phone industry with the introduction of the iPhone in 2007. The iPhone's innovative design, touchscreen interface, and integration of various features set a new standard for smartphones. Alexander Graham Bell: Although primarily known for inventing the telephone, Alexander Graham Bell's work laid the groundwork for future advancements in telecommunications, including the development of wireless communication technologies that eventually led to cell phones. Nokia Team: The team of engineers at Nokia, including Matti Makkonen and Jorma Nieminen, played a significant role in shaping the early mobile phone industry. Nokia's phones, particularly in the 1990s and early 2000s, became synonymous with mobile communication.

Communication: Cell phones have revolutionized communication by providing instant connectivity regardless of geographical distance. With text messaging, voice calls, video calls, and social media platforms, cell phones have made it easier to stay in touch with family, friends, and colleagues, fostering constant connectivity. Information Access: The internet access provided by cell phones has made information readily available at our fingertips. From searching for news, weather updates, and directions to accessing educational resources and online services, cell phones have democratized information and empowered individuals with vast knowledge. Productivity: Cell phones have become essential tools for work and productivity. With email, productivity apps, calendars, and document editing tools, cell phones enable us to stay organized, collaborate remotely, and manage tasks on the go, enhancing efficiency and flexibility. Entertainment: Cell phones have transformed entertainment consumption. With high-quality cameras, music streaming services, video platforms, and gaming apps, cell phones provide a portable source of entertainment, allowing users to capture moments, enjoy multimedia content, and engage in immersive gaming experiences. Social Impact: Cell phones have had a profound social impact, fostering social connections, activism, and societal changes. Social media platforms on cell phones have facilitated global conversations, allowed marginalized voices to be heard, and facilitated movements for social justice and political change.

1. In the annals of history, a groundbreaking moment occurred on April 3, 1973, when the talented engineer Martin Cooper, hailing from Motorola, etched his name into the technological legacy. It was on this momentous day that the world witnessed the birth of the first-ever handheld mobile phone call. 2. As of 2021, there are more mobile phone subscriptions than people in the world. The number of mobile subscriptions exceeds 100% of the global population. 3. According to a study conducted by the Pew Research Center, 97% of Americans own a cell phone, with 85% of them using smartphones. 4. The average person checks their phone approximately 96 times a day, totaling more than 35,000 times a year. 5. The world's fastest text message was typed in 18.44 seconds by a 23-year-old woman in 2010. The message said: "The razor-toothed piranhas of the genera Serrasalmus and Pygocentrus are the most ferocious freshwater fish in the world. In reality, they seldom attack a human." 6. The first mobile phone with a built-in camera was released in 2000 by Sharp Corporation in Japan. It had a 110,000-pixel resolution and could only capture black and white images. 7. The total number of mobile app downloads worldwide reached approximately 194 billion in 2020, reflecting the increasing reliance on mobile applications for various purposes.

The topic of cell phones is important to write an essay about due to their profound impact on various aspects of society and individuals' lives. Cell phones have revolutionized communication, transforming the way people connect and interact with one another. They have become an integral part of our daily routines, influencing social dynamics, work environments, and personal relationships. Exploring the topic of cell phones allows us to delve into their technological advancements, from the early days of basic communication to the advent of smartphones and their multifunctional capabilities. Understanding the evolution of cell phones provides insights into the rapid pace of technological progress and its effects on society. Moreover, cell phones have contributed significantly to the fields of education, healthcare, business, and entertainment. They have facilitated access to information, enhanced productivity, and revolutionized entertainment and media consumption. However, the widespread use of cell phones has also raised concerns about privacy, digital addiction, and social implications.

1. Choudhury, M. M., & Tufekci, Z. (2019). Social machines: How users' collective actions enact norms in mobile computing. ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction (TOCHI), 26(6), 1-40. 2. Goggin, G. (2006). Cell phone culture: Mobile technology in everyday life. Routledge. 3. Katz, J. E. (2008). Magic in the air: Mobile communication and the transformation of social life. Transaction Publishers. 4. Kim, Y., & Sundar, S. S. (2014). Mobile persuasion: Exploring the persuasive potential of mobile phones as delivery devices for digital content. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 72(5), 569-581. 5. Ling, R. (2004). The mobile connection: The cell phone's impact on society. Morgan Kaufmann. 6. Ling, R., & Yttri, B. (2002). Hyper-coordination via mobile phones in Norway. In R. Harper, L. Palen, & A. Taylor (Eds.), The Inside Text: Social, Cultural, and Design Perspectives on SMS (pp. 139-156). Springer. 7. Plant, S. (2000). On the mobile: The effects of mobile telephones on social and individual life. Motorola. 8. Ravidchandran, S., & Ravi, V. (2015). Mobile phones and teenagers: Impact, consequences, and concerns. IUP Journal of Information Technology, 11(3), 7-18. 9. Turkle, S. (2015). Reclaiming conversation: The power of talk in a digital age. Penguin. 10. Wei, R. (2008). Conceptualizing and measuring connectedness to mobile phones in a college campus: The CPP scale. Computers in Human Behavior, 24(6), 2834-2849.

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