The results from market research firm Kantar, comes from interviews with 10, 000 Australians and predicts that in the the next few weeks we'll tip the 50% mark. With these figures in mind there is no doubt that such smartphones have been a significant 'social lubricant', especially in a sometimes geographically challenging nation such as Australia. But do they 'add intelligence to our lives' as ABC Technology and Games journalist Mark Pesce writes:
'Consider: you walk into a store to buy a new washing machine. Which one should you buy? You can call around, and poll your friends - or you can look up the latest CHOICE ratings, then post a question to Twitter, sort the replies, and use all of that to make a more informed decision. We regularly do this when we go to dinner - whip out the smartphone to bring up a restaurant review, or a map to help us find parking. We do this sort of thing so often and so consistently something that's utterly amazing has become nearly invisible to us. Surrounded by the gentle cocoon of the intelligence provided by our smartphones, we don't get lost as much, or eat as many bad meals. Our lives are better because we carry something in our pockets that helps us tell good from bad'.
Yes we are certainly more informed but I don't necessarily think this means we are more intelligent. If anything, the usefulness of smartphones and their many apps and app babies makes us think less for ourselves. No surprise however that I found out about this story on my smartphone, through the Twitter app and a link posted by @ABCtech. There is is no denying the usefulness and yes, intelligence of smartphones, but I question that they are in fact making the individual user more intelligent.
Just something to THINK about.
You can read the full article here: http://www.abc.net.au/technology/articles/2011/08/22/3299132.htm
I only recently just bought a smart phone within the last few months. I feel absolutely no gain from it. I still prefer to access media through traditional platforms, such as newspaper, radio and television. I do access a lot of my information on the internet, but I prefer to do this on my home computer. However, that's probably just more a reflection of my frustration with touch screen buttons (AKA me being an old woman).
ReplyDeleteAnyway my point is that while smart phones and similar technology definitely can be useful, I agree that most people don't use them in a useful way.
We are now the obese smartphone nation? Interesting. Something to add to our repertoire. But really, while I may be able to Google an answer when I'm in the shopping center, a lot of the time the stupid things DON'T work. Because service providers don't match American providers. We have the technology to make 'smart phones' but apparently we don't have the technology to utilize them to their full potential.
ReplyDelete