I remember when the illustrious iPhone came out. Everyone and their grandma wanted to have one. There was even a sad song dedicated to those who could not afford an iPhone at the time.
After that the Android phones gained prominence, and now we live in a time where Android and iPhones are locked in an eternal war for smartphone consumers. No, this is not a post about iPhones vs Android, this is a post about smartphones.
Smartphones making us dumber
I’ll be honest: it really feels unprecedented with the manner how smartphones are now integrated into our lives, and computers as whole, too. The fact of the matter is how people use them. Nowadays people are staring into their screens instead of looking on what’s in front of them: street crosswalks, the world around them, their smoking hot date, who is also staring at their screen, and so on.
Then people start wondering why they can’t get their lives in order among the world of distractions. They keep such a world on an electronic rectangle that does more than phone home to your mother to come pick up at soccer practice.
I am guilty of this as well. Every time some shower thought pops into my brain, I immediately grab my rectangle and voice command it to search about why human meat definitely tastes bad. And that’s when it hit me: our smartphones are TOOLS!
One tool to rule them all
Smartphones are portable computers with the functionalities of a telephone. And what do computers do? They compute stuff! Want to track your sleeping hours? There’s an app for that. Want to track your food macros? Yup, all in one app. Schedule your toilet use for the week? App. Want to show the world your vacation on the beaches of Costa Rica? There’s an app, but don’t. You’ll get distracted by the rectangle, and then you will miss the spectacle of the ocean.
It all comes down to knowing that smartphones are utilities you own. Own the utilities or they own you.

Until then and as always… HACK TO THE FUTURE!!

Yeah. This is why on vacation, we made it a hard rule that the phone is only a camera.
I see people not watching where they’re walking all the time now. Surprised there aren’t more pedestrian deaths.