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Danger Lampost

Futurist & Technology Consultant,

TEDCRED 10+

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How has the Internet and ubiquity of mobile phones changed your quality of life?

Starting my sixth decade here on planet Earth, I am struck by how younger people these days only know a world with the web and mobile phones. After leaving a job at the mobile phone division of a major software company, I spent the next year doing an experiment: I did not touch a mobile phone for a year. I was struck by how much lonelier our public spaces have become. It can be difficult to meet someone somewhere these days without a mobile phone, or to travel long distances, especially with the disappearance of most pay phones.

Has online dating really improved the quality of our personal relationships? Some studies suggest they have not. What about getting a job? We've had higher employment rates in our past before we ever had an Internet.

On the positive side, we have this powerful tool for gaining knowledge. But then I think, how did Einstein come up with all that stuff about e equals m c squared without any computers? And how come we rely on so-called primitive, indigenous people to teach us about life saving drugs from plants, that we then patent and make billions of dollars from? How did we ever manage to elect a president before the web? Politics is working better now, right?

How old should a child be before they get their first cell phone?

These are extra-ordinarily powerful tools we have and they enable rapid knowledge advancement, meme exchange, democratize people - so many wonderful things and am just scratching the surface. Before we forget how it used to be before the web, are we giving up something really valuable? What's better these days? What's worse?

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Closing Statement from Danger Lampost

I was about to reply to a number of comments and I feel like this conversation was just getting started but it appears to have been closed within a day, I'm not sure why. I tried using the Contact form to ask someone why, and it doesn't work for me. I clicked on the profile for one of the HOSTs here, and that does not bring up their profile page, nor can I find this host in the "Looking for someone?" link on the left. So, left with no other way to ask this question, I am unfortunately putting a plea here for someone to help me understand what happened in case there's something I can do better? Would have liked to continue this more - I think there's quite a bit more to say on the topic (at least for me!)

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    Fritzie Reisner 100+

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    Nov 20 2012: The internet has greatly increased my access to information of all kinds, saving me lots of time that I can use productively. Email has allowed me to stay in touch with friends, my children, and colleagues at a much lower cost than I could when needing to rely on telephone and to do things like exchanging and reviewing drafts much faster.

    I am part of the 'online learning revolution," and have had a chance, thanks to the internet both to learn with and to teach students all over the world.

    Being able to take my phone with me has made it easier to be wherever I want to be without worrying my kids cannot reach me if they need me.

    I do not have, and have never had, a smartphone, so I cannot comment on that.
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      Danger Lampost 10+

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      Nov 20 2012: Those are all very positive things. Do you feel like you've had to give up anything in the process?
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        Fritzie Reisner 100+

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        Nov 20 2012: As a first order effect, I need to pay for my phone and internet service, which potentially displaces an expenditure on other things, but there is not a specific thing that comes to mind that made that choice difficult. As I work mostly online now, and as only one of my children lives within 500 miles of me, the net gain is large.

      • Abhishek Narainia

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        Nov 21 2012: I don't think its possible for people who are avid users of smartphones and Internet for that matter , to tell if they have missed something in the process of being accustomed to this. Being of the same category myself, I failt to imagine what I could have missed out on as the importance of gains is so large, its hard to foucs on if there are any losses. The fact that we can't imagine ourselves without our gadgets renders it impossible to think about what these have cost us, if anything.

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