What Technology Means To You
Don’t Expect Too Much
In recent years, there are a lot of great advancements in technology and consumer electronics. Every time when leaders in the tech industry announce new products, they are mostly impressive, however the feeling of breakthrough doesn’t exist anymore. No more than a decade ago, when smartphones first appeared in the market, it changed the world. It changed how we communicate, how we entertain, how we interact with the world. Everyone feels they can’t live without it anymore, but is that really true? Nowadays when new gadgets come out, they are usually optional. Take wearables as an example, currently it is still in its infancy compared to the development of technology, everything seems to be in beta or testing stage. I believe after a few years when wearable technology becomes more mature , the penetration won’t be as high as that of smartphones. There’s not yet a new product after the smartphone changed the way we live again. So what is the difference between the smartphone and other (optional) smart devices? Why do more people think they can’t live without the smartphone but not the others? It’s all about its purpose and the role it played in people’s lives.
Smartphone is a really powerful and functional device that changed the way we live. It replaced the old way we used to communicate, interact and see the world. That’s the reason why people think they couldn’t live without the smartphone. People born in the late 90s or 20s knew about those devices when they were very young and to them it’s an essential part of their lives. Even for people born before the 90s who lived without any smartphones fine before, the way smartphones changed their lives make it extremely difficult for them to move back to the way they used to live without a smartphone.
For other smart gadgets such as wearables and other devices, such as tablets and smart watches, they don’t replace the way we live like smartphones do. Instead, they simplify how to perform our everyday work. They improve our efficiency on completing different tasks. That’s one of the reasons why the adoption rate of all other smart devices doesn’t come close to that of smartphones.
To me, these little improvements on efficiency do mean a lot. People around me always ask why I upgrade my gadgets so frequently, with the help of all these hardware and software, I could do my stuff faster with higher accuracy. Most of them don’t understand all the benefits that you could get with the help of different tools and software from Internet enabled devices. With the time saved, I could do things that I actually care about other than work. On the other hand, relying too much on technology also has drawbacks. For example, if I left my phone at home, I wouldn’t be able to do anything. That’s why it is important to strike a balance between relying on ourselves and on technology.
