A Memory From Past Triggers Observations<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

“Here, take your book.”<\/em><\/p>My Mother<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

I was surprised by the sentence as my mother returned my mobile phone to me. Yes, mobile phones were not as personal as they are today. That was nearly about a decade and a half ago. Back then the smartphone was a relatively new thing in my part of the world. I was researching the convergence of technologies \u2013 it was also a reasonably new concept. All the people I knew still read in those days – “real” paper books.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of my reading had shifted to digital means and a smartphone offered a good opportunity to go digital. It would still be a couple of years before I would go fully digital. If I look back I realise the many advantages of reading in the digital format which paper books could never allow. Many people still say that they prefer reading their paper books for reasons as varied as the physical feel of the paper, which cannot happen in digital books to the smell of paper. I could never find those reasons reasonable and have always felt that such people have been “lazy” in adopting digital means to consume the word! I may sound rude but then that is what I feel is the fact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That day, my mother was using my phone to speak to my brother, a very usual thing for anybody to do. At the end of the conversation, she tells me to take my book. The surprise on my face would have been very obvious, but the growing realisation and that smile on her face told me what she meant. A few days back I had told her that I would no longer require a paper book to satisfy that strong urge of mine to read something. I wanted to be able to read using my smartphone. I would soon be graduating in a way. As an engineer and a curious one, technology by default invites my curiosity and depending on my needs it gets adopted faster than it would for most people. Reading books by digging out the phone from the pocket would be one hell of convenience for a lazy guy like me!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I look back to that day, I realise how that small piece of glass with some circuitry baked into its back has come to be an essential part of work and play, not only for me but for most people who use a smartphone. Just three decades back all the possibilities that I list below could not have been even imagined. Times have changed rapidly and most humans who have access seem to be stuck to digital media, now there are quite a few, from immovable ones like TVs, and desktop computers to iPods, tablets ad smartphones which are portable. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How I Use Smartphone<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The things I do like the rest of mankind would with their smartphones are: –<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Speaking to people<\/strong>. That happens more and almost all the time. The privacy barriers of appropriate time have long since been breached.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Messaging and chatting<\/strong> with others both at work and for personal use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Emailing<\/strong> – including official ones. It is convenient to send out a digitally signed document while travelling on the bus and get a response before you reach your office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. Clicking photos and making videos<\/strong>. The number of photos which I have clicked now, I could never imagine in those days of analogue cameras which used reels and allowed only a few shots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. Researching topics<\/strong> and things on the internet. As more knowledge gets shared and more connections happen, a smartphone has become a tool to access all that knowledge. In fact, now I take a deliberate effort to avoid digital over-consumption. That coming from a bibliophile has a lot to say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

6. Reading news<\/strong> – that has gone down considerably now and is almost fully restricted to op-eds. News feels like a waste of time these days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

7. Checking weather conditions<\/strong> \u2013 I remain a weather buff ever since my schooling days. In fact, now I can keep a near real-time tag on the weather of all the places I want to – that is the true power of technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

8. Using the calendar<\/strong> to organise schedules. It is now an essential part of my workflow – something which wasn’t the case before I started using the smartphone the way I use it now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

9. Taking notes<\/strong> – nearly 100% of note-taking is digital now, barring of course a few times where phones are not permitted. That I think is a good thing because I still love to use my fountain pens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

10. Blogging<\/strong> \u2013 this won\u2019t be a surprise for many, with apps like Drafts and Apple Notes, writing blog posts on phones is convenient, especially when one is on the move.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

11. Listening to music<\/strong>, my music library has everything that an audiophile could ever want, all organised and accessible very quickly. The earphone\/headphone tech available to really get into the groove is actually mind-boggling when compared to about a couple of decades back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

12. Looking at those high-quality pictures<\/strong> and videos of nature is just taken for granted now. What amazement those National Geographic <\/a>magazines offered me as a kid, is now available to me in my pocket. The enthusiasm to explore the world somehow seems to have dulled that bit and I won’t attribute it to growing up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

13. Sharing ideas on <\/strong>social media. It was a craze for me once before I realised the toxicity of it all and stopped visiting social media sites as much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

14. Keeping tag of my expenses<\/strong> is that much easier and more convenient now. Apps like YNAB<\/a> allow insights into personal expenses which would take considerable time in the years gone by. A smartphone enables that greatly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n