More Mobile Phones Than Toilets

The world’s population is estimated at around 7 billion of whom 6 billion own mobile phones. Unbelievable when you realise that only 4.5 billion have toilets! Those are strange values.

Mobile phone technology is the fastest accepted and adopted technology the world has known at consumer level. According to an American research company there are some demographic groups that aren’t as keen though. These include the over 65s and those who have not been to college, those on lower salaries and those living in the country. Whether the UK statistics would be the same has not been put to the test.

Studies have shown that this extension to our arm which is constantly with us has changed our conversations. First of all because we know who is contacting us by the name on the screen.

Deciding whether to answer the call, text or message is a ‘fine line’ deal; do we offend the caller by ignoring it or offend the person we are with at the time. To be fair it is probably only those we are sharing intimate time with who might be offended as most of us can’t ignore our Smartphones when we are with others either.

Always accessible

Studies show that we not only take them everywhere with us but we don’t switch them off either. We keep our Smartphones at the ready no matter what we are doing – during conversations, in meetings and even during our most intimate moments!

As we know who is calling us we don’t need to announce ourselves anymore. It is more likely that we will explain where we are i.e. ‘I’m in a meeting’ or ‘I’m in bed’ or ... this gives the person you are speaking to some idea of how they should conduct the conversation or text messaging.

Image Credits: techtickerblog.com

One of the things we all miss out on is ‘me time’ or time to think. With our Smartphones there at all times and our fear of being disconnected and ‘cut off’ from the world even momentarily, we give ourselves no space. A study supported by Vodafone finds that despite the fact that we might have contact with a wide group of friends, we usually only speak to or text a core group amounting to about four or six of them.

The importance of continual contact

There is no doubt that most Smartphone users cannot bear the thought of being out of contact at all. This makes our Smartphones one of most precious possessions.

Keeping it safe is important but because most users are using their Smartphone in some way most of the time they think that is enough. But there are other ways and reasons why extra care should be taken.

• Smartphones aren’t cheap to replace

• They don’t bounce so dropping your Smartphone might lead to an annoying cracked screen

• They don’t float or swim! If you drop yours in liquid of any kind it will be damaged

• Opportunists will take any chance to grab or steal yours so don’t use it in over crowded places, or walk along the street using it. And definitely don’t leave it unattended anywhere

To protect your isolation should any of these things happen to your Smartphone make sure you have adequate phone insurance.

   Bill Turner

About the Author:

Bill Turner is a technology guru with several independent technology consulting companies although he admits to truly loving the simple things in life.