this is a very interesting article from the San Fransico Chronicle in 2006. It is mostly filled with statistics and interesting and somewhat scary facts about cell phone use. My favorite line from the article that is not a statistic or a study is in the beginning of the second paragraph were the author says " nothing has matched the seismic cultural shift created by the cell phone." this is a pretty big statement it basically is saying that nothing has impacted our lives as much as the cellular phone. I agree that the cell phone is one of the biggest inventions of the world but it doesn't stand alone.
I found that the most interesting statistic from this article was that according to a 2004 MIT survey cell phones were the most hated invention that people can't live without. It got thirty percent of the vote, alarm clocks were second with twenty-five percent and television with twenty three. This survey enforces my thoughts that people don't so much want all the technology in their lives but instead feel that they don't really have a choice.
http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2006/Americans-and-their-cell-phones.aspx
this article also from 2006 is a list and overview of a full report, it gives the summaries of percents about cell phones. I think the most important part of the text was in the beginning, according to the article 74% of Americans with cell phones say they have used them in an emergency. This is a good counter argument to the idea of cell phones being all bad. It has its share of positive aspects. I think without cell phones and the blow up of digital technology many people would not receive help they needed, most importantly medical assistance.
http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Mobile-and-Wireless/Cell-Phone-Use-Increases-Risk-of-Brain-Tumors-New-Study-Finds-600550/
this article unlike the first two is about the raised risk cell phones have on developing Brain tumor's. It is very recent, from August 31, 2009. I found the most interesting part of the text was the third paragraph, it said that a Swedish study found that using a cell phone after ten years increased ones risk of brain cancer by 280 percent. This is unbelievable, it doesn't raise the risk it sky rockets the chances. I think this is kind of scary and it definitly makes me want to cut down on my cell phone use. My general stance on Phones is still that they are good and help people connect with one another but in proportion, too much can be a bad thing. The article helpes me see the negative aspects of cell phone use which helps to give me a better and more well rounded idea of its purposes.
http://www.fuor.net/dnn/mobile+phone+marketing+statistics.aspx
This web page shows various graphs and data pertaining to cell phone use and preferred technology. On the page they call them "most recent mobile phone marketing clips" they are all very interesting to see. The Clip i think will be most useful was done by the Nielson telecom practice group on the average number of calls per month versus the average texts sent per month, the data was grouped by age. It wasn't that surprising that the highest volume of texts were from 13-17 year old's with 1742. Although this wasn't surprising i still found it interesting and important to know. Another interesting clip from also from Nielson that I liked was one that showed the text message use by country. Surprising Russia was first with an estimated 88% of the population sending a text in the last 30 days, even more shocking was that America was tied with Canada in last place with a mere 53%.
What this information showed me was that texting and cellular use is truly world wide. The addiction is not just a domestic issue it everywhere.
Whats good Evan? Long time...
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen your blog in a while but it appears your up to date with all of the assignments which makes this much easier for me, thank you.
What I enjoined most about this particular post was how intriguing and interesting articles you had that suggested some original ideas I hadn't thought much about myself. I like the topic you chose, I agree that cell phones were one of the first and most important of all the gadgets in the digitalization phenomena.
One of my necessities is definitely my cell phone, and I found it so weird that your first article claimed that "according to a 2004 MIT survey cell phones were the most hated invention that people can't live without." I guess its never dawned on me how irritating cell phones can be when they are being observed from a different perspective. As an individual I rely on my cell phone for safety, responsibilities and socializing. But at times when I have to bare to listen to another person yack on their cell phones, I grow increasingly annoyed, and I'm sure other people have thought the same of me.
This reminds me of something a friend of mine who doesn't have a cell phone at the moment once said to me. She was referring to another woman on the bus with a phone, and how tortuous it was for her to listen to someone enjoying a gadget that she could not. I know that I need an escape from my souroundings sometimes, and how incomplete and uncomfortable I feel if I don't have the option of zoning out with the help of an upbeat song or friendly text message.
One thing you did well in this post was share articles with various themes and big idea's. I like how you first article listen was a bit more broad that discussed some of the qualities of a cell phone and their users. Then you have an article about the advantages of a cell phone like in an emergency, and a following article about the health risks.
I was thinking, you may want to go into more detail about what valuable information there was in the second and third article, or perhaps found another article that discussed the advantages of cell phones since the one you had was quite short.
I also didn't really like the last article you had since it was so boring and somewhat off topic. I think it would have been cool if you had a few youtube clips of outrageous cell phone commercials emphasizing how cut throat the industry has become to win over customers.
Reading this post, I wonder how long I could go without a cell phone. Whether I would feel dysfunctional without it of just resort to relaying on friends phones for communication. You've certainly helped me realize what an addiction and overall attachment I have to my phone and how although I find it mostly useful it could slowly be causing a brain tumor in my head. For some reason, knowing this information I don't think it would stop me from using it.
Maybe we can further try to understand why?
See ya in class :)