Mobile Madness

Jacked In

Smart phones. What do you think we use them for? Certainly not talking! Why pay all that money for a phone just to talk on? Smart phones should have a different name. What percentage of use on a smart phone would you say is for talking? You might be surprised...

I know I was. Not that I should have been, nor should anyone else. I should make it clear that I am not making fun of smart phone users. If I could afford a smart phone (and the cost of the excessive, blood sucking service provider 2 year contracts) and use it the way I would want to, I would fit right in with the majority. In other words, I would rarely talk on my phone.

I hate talking on the phone. Evidently, so do the vast majority of smart phone users. So what percentage of smart phone use does talking consume? Well according to a TGDaily article, using a smart phone for talking will dip below 10% this year. And we still call it a phone... why?



A smart phone is essentially a mobile computer, obviously not a sexy enough name. Mobile communication device doesn't cut it. Calling it a phone at all is just an after thought. It's the smart part that people buy them for. It's a camera, a storage device, a browsing device, a music device, a gaming device and an app device which makes it many, many more things. Like GPS location and map directions, payment device, music finder, weather forecaster, video device... anything you can think of practically. Like I said, a mobile computer.

So is it any wonder that an average smart phone user only uses their phone to talk with 10% of time? I guess not. Here's some more things about cell phones and smart phones that you may find interesting:

• The average phone user sends 678 texts per month, down from 696 last year.
• The first mobile call from a car (In the US) was made in 1947.
• Motorola built the first hand held mobile phone in 1973.
• By 2014 mobile internet usage will overtake desktop internet usage.
• Americans spend 2.7 hours a day socializing on their phones.
• 86% of mobile internet users use their phone while watching TV.
• 5.1 billion people own a cell phone. 4.6 billion people own a tooth brush.
• There are more mobile phones on the planet than TV's.
• 13% of mobile phone users use their phone to discourage interaction while around others.
• 53% of American adults own a smartphone. (Must be the Romney 53's)

I think smart phones might lose some traction what with the arrival of reasonably priced 7" tablets. You can do everything with the tablets that can be done with a phone, except talk. And nobody is using smart phones for that anyway...

By the way, the image above is a fractal. It's a representation of a monster alien thing plugged into it's own little network. I thought it was appropriate. You can see many more amazing fractals on my DeviantArt page.

Sources:

• TGDaily
• Wikipedia
• Digitalbuzzblog
• Digitalforreallife
• Signalnews