It seems just a few years ago everyone had a tiny flip phone, and a few years before that nobody had a cell phone at all. Considering that rapid pace of change, it might be fun to reflect on a few ways life was different before you could just pull up the shared knowledge of the entire Internet world on a mobile broadband phone!
1) It was a lot harder to settle a bet. Sadly, the fine art of being completely sure about something to the point of being willing to wager money on it might go completely by the wayside for the next generation. How many friendly bets have you lost over who was the Yankees' all-time winningest pitcher, or the name of last year's Best Picture winner, or the name of your dining hall in college? These bets can be settled so quickly with the Internet. You don't have to go home to consult a sports almanac, or a guide to movies, and you don't have to call that old friend from college to find the information you need. With wireless Internet, there's no time to renege on your bet by claiming that the bet was about something different, or that it never happened at all, as was often the case between friendly bettors. Having the entire Internet on your phone makes these questions open and shut cases.
2) It was harder to ignore the world around you. For example, take the sights and sounds (and smells) of a lowly city bus. A crowded city bus could be a much more unbearable experience before the advent of smartphones. These phones make it infinitely easier to tune out the world around you as the bus rattles its way up- or downtown, allowing you to catch up on e-mail or just surf the Internet instead of staring blankly at other passengers (or being stared at). However, some people would argue that smartphones deprive us of some of the random social interaction that might otherwise occur on a given day. Even on city buses, you can meet wonderful people without warning - and isn't that why people live in cities anyway? Anywhere people are congregating, there is the ability for an amazing new encounter. You can even use your smartphone to settle bets with new friends!
3) Home and work were strictly separated. These days, many companies issue their employees Internet phones so that they are always within reach. Our workforce no longer consists only of people who work strict eight-hour shifts from 9am to 5pm. With schedules widely dispersed in the workforce, expectations are higher that people should be available 24 hours a day. However, you can make this work for you. Just because you are available all day does not mean you have to be working all day. There is a flexibility in our working schedule that wireless Internet gives us which is relatively new in the working world.
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