Technology rapidly changing - changes lives

[razz]

Zoegirl's thread about her son's phone and Gregg's post that connection via today's technology is changing lives really made me think. Both DD's are using more technology today and I am struggling to stay abreast of the changes but I think that I am losing ground.
Smart phones are very useful and make so much accessible via the internet with a flip of the wrist or touch of a finger.

Is this sustainable? How much should try to stay on top of all the changes that are happening so rapidly?
I have found that I can leap over the progress from one early stage to the latest thereby skipping the intervening stages but is this always possible?
Undeveloped countries have gone from no internet to smart phones with all that is possible as a result.
At times, it is mind-boggling.

[SteveinMN]

IMHO, a smartphone is just a handheld computer with a network connection that's almost always on. Really, very little of the technology on smartphones is all that new. The "commercial" Internet has been around since the mid-90s. So were PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants), which could run "apps" and manage contacts/addresses/appointments/to-dos/Microsoft Office documents/images/music and video files. Back in 2001, Kyocera offered a smartphone (http://www.mobiletechreview.com/kyocera6035.htm) that was essentially a PalmPilot with a cellular radio. GPS technology has existed for years.

One wonders (well, I do) if smartphones would be as popular as they are today without access to the Internet. Really, I think the Internet should be considered one of the greatest inventions of all time, for the possibilities it offers people all over the world in seeking information, in establishing virtual communities (like this one) when it would be difficult or impossible to create local interest groups, and in providing a common flexible communication protocol so people can share data almost instantaneously.

As for whether keeping up with technology is "sustainable", I think it can be done as long as an individual cares to learn about it. Honestly, we're not masters of every skill we acquire. I can state that many automobile drivers I see s--k at the task, but they get around. Many people can send email without understanding .sigs and mailing lists and POP or IMAP. ATMs aren't much of a challenge anymore. The key, I believe, is in understanding some building blocks of technology and in engaging enough with it that you know what you're trying to do. If it's just rote, you're sunk. We've had this discussion here before -- people who have zero interest in Facebook or twitter or ebooks and such. That's fine. But the person who does not understand the concept of a social network or short messages or cellular communication is the person who is going to find modern-day life increasingly out of their ken.

[redfox]

Yes, exactly, Steve! The Internet is the driver behind these powerful handheld computers, with only moderately good phone capabilities (a quality which I hope changes, and soon).

I am very glad for my iPhone & web enabled iPad. They are my mobile office, and since I work from home, are used constantly. More than once, I have been stuck in traffic when time for a meeting arose, so I simply pull off the road & jump into the meeting on my iPhone. I can share docs with others, webcruise, have face time meetings, run spreadsheets, etc. Fantastic!

My DH calls his iPhone his second brain... And as a professional photographer, he often uses his iPhone camera, developing amazing photos with apps, and doing the processing right on his phone. We are both hoping to upgrade to the 5, whenever the 6 comes put, as the price for the 5 will go down dramatically. We bought our 4's new, and they are seeming a big dated! Triply how fast the technology changes.

My young adult kids primarily use text as their communications, not voice. This is a cultural innovation equal to the introduction of the telephone. If you had told me when I was in middle & high school that I could not use the telephone, I would have expired! It was the key to my social life. I used it to organize in person events, and to maintain ties between events & after school. Kids use social media in the same way, with many enhancements.

Our kids use their smart devices to have a social life via text, Instagram, Tumblr, FB, and many more I am sure I'll never hear of, being a Boomer. In fact, my DSS was horrified when his Dad & I found his Tumblr, declared that we were stalking him, and instantly abandoned it. In retrospect, I realize that he was trying to establish safe space away from parents.

I heard a story on NPR yesterday about an innovator who has come up with a symbol for the word 'the', to save time & character space for short communications, like Tweets (140 characters). Brilliant! What other innovations in language will come about?

We are hard wired as a congregate species, to make, nourish, and grow connections with each other. Each new generation does it differently than the last. I love the incredible tech innovations I see every day. Even if I cannot afford them all!

[ApatheticNoMore]

I've worked with computers for ages, there is probably little I couldn't do if I put my attention to it - some of it would be hard and intimidating though - in that case I tell myself: carry on, courage and trust yourself .... at worst you ruin a computer! :laff:

However I *don't* love tech as such and am certainly not amazed by it. I don't have a smart phone (like I need another device so government acronym can track me constantly everywhere - thanks but no thanks.). I like the communication (especially informational but also socializing and organizing) aspects of the internet is all, but that's a lot.

As for how much one needs to know, for what? For instance if one is trying to market something (a business say) then knowing about mobile may help (it is the means you could use to market). Obviously if one is involved technically in producing something that effects mobile then one needs to know it. But generally? Some things are a lot more useful than others (Twitter can be useful for real time on the ground news and that's something you can't get elswhere but it's a huge timesuck , FB is useful for precisely nothing IMO :)).

[Jilly]

Facebook is the only economical way that I can keep in touch with family all over the country, and my friends that have moved to the UK, Australia and New Zealand (she moved there because Australia was too crowded for her :) ).

It is also a safe place to play games when I have insomnia.

As for other technology, I kind of love all of it, even though I cannot fit it into my budget right now. But, when I can, watch out!

[redfox]

How the heck else would we be able to watch a corpse flower bloom in real time?
http://www.usbg.gov/return-titan

[Gregg]

I have found that I can leap over the progress from one early stage to the latest thereby skipping the intervening stages but is this always possible? Undeveloped countries have gone from no internet to smart phones with all that is possible as a result.
At times, it is mind-boggling.

Cultural anthropologists actually call that leap-frogging. Its a critical part of bringing the developing world up to speed with the rest of us. I have not verified these figures, but have heard from several sources that in 2001 there were roughly 2 million cell phones in Africa. By 2011 there were over 600 million, most being smart phones. The leap frog was to simply skip the step where land line infrastructure was developed for phone service. They skipped building infrastructure for internet delivery and cable based entertainment as well. By skipping those steps poor countries were able to join in modern commerce and communication, but saved untold trillions of dollars by not having to provide infrastructure for an entire continent.



One wonders (well, I do) if smartphones would be as popular as they are today without access to the Internet.

I'd have to agree that without the net smart phones would basically be glorified walkie-talkies. It's that ability to share information that is, IMO, the key to the whole thing.