Surrendered to the Mobile Phone

Ever wondered about a world without mobile phones? It is hard to spot a person without one these days. Long gone are the days when owning a mobile phone was a luxury. In the era of smartphones, owning one becomes a necessity.

The luxury period : A little more than a decade ago, my father purchased a new device and brought it home. We hadn't seen much of the mobile phone around before that, we gazed at it open mouthed. Two years later, he brought home the smaller and the more expensive variety, that even sported a camera and once again we were left gaping.

The luxury-necessity period : The introduction of Motorazr in 2004 was a revolution of sorts. It was introduced right at a time when owning sleek goods was a fashion symbol. Mobile phones then started appealing to the younger lot and they weren't as expensive as before. This was the time the college going sons and daughters got their Nokia 3310s. Primarily meant for safety reasons, it imperceptibly became a necessity.

The necessity period : 2007- current. The period of the iPhones and the Galaxys. Nothing much to be said, for all of us know how much we depend on the device we carry everywhere we go.

Life without mobile phones is at first unimaginable to some. Forgive the younger ones, the older people find themselves checking theirs, once every five minutes. Ever since the inception of mobile phones, man's dependence on the seemingly 'I know it all device' has increased.

Think about a current world devoid of mobile phones. Thoughts about the hypothetical world startles one about how mankind has let the device define his way of life.

Consider the following situation.
A terrorist group is on a mission to take down an enemy. The mission proceeds as planned initially. Further actions require orders from the higher official and this requires a phone call to be made from the field. The phone chooses to malfunction at that point of time. The 'terrorist on field' takes a momentary decision which he prefers referring to as an anonymous one, the decision backfires and brings down his group.
The most significant step of the assault banked on the mobile phone the terrorist had to have.
(Replace 'terrorist' with 'National security guard' and the case still holds true.)
The above discussed scene appeared in a movie that I watched recently and left me wondering how major decisions bank on a mobile phone.

In more common and civilized lifestyle, smartphones rule the roost. Phones are not only meant for calling anymore. Times have changed, questions have evolved from "What can a mobile phone do?" to "What can't it do?".
The mother reaches for the mobile phone to know if her son has reached safely. The driver uses his phone as a navigation device. The traveller uses it to click pictures. Most smartphone users use theirs to access the all-wise-internet. The phone tells your heart rate, it gets you the day's share updates, it lets you follow your favourite sport. The mobile phone in the current world is indispensable.
Gone are the (good old?) days when a one-to-one-meet-up was the only type of social gathering. Online groups and messaging services have reconceptualized social meetings and gatherings. A group announcement is just a type-and-tap away with a smartphone in hand.

My grandmother watches in awe as I scroll through my iPad and put my brother on a video chat. Talking to her grandson, who lives continents away,  on a video call wasn't even a dream in her younger days. Her dreams couldn't go that far.

The growth of the mobile phone market is a classic example of human obsession. The market has seen its largest growth in the last decade owing to man's obsession in making life easier with a mobile phone.

Modernization as it is now owes much of itself to mobile phones. The effect of mobile phones on the current generation is almost the line that separates it from the previous generations.
Whether the effect is good or bad is a debate on its own, but the fact remains that the world has 'surrendered to mobile phones'.