Something’s Happening Here — 2

2. Overview of other influential changes.

A. Mobil technology

2007 was an eventful year. It was the year that the iPhone was introduced and sold to the public. It was also the year that both Facebook and Twitter, both of which were which had begun slowly in 2006, became popular, due in part, to the iPhone. The world became much more mobile, and much more social that year. Before that there were Blackberry’s, but those were for business. Beginning in 2007 everyone got involved, all the time, anywhere. Since then, the incidence of people walking into signposts while looking at what they held in their hands has increased exponentially.

Also, since then, we all have been constantly bombarded with new information almost every moment. we stay awake. We are surrounded by screens which flicker with information about what’s going on with our friends, our families, in sports, with kittens, in music, in politics, as well as with ourselves. We can constantly track our health, fitness, finances and romances. We can tally how many monsters we capture, pigs we eliminate or candy we crush, or whatever has already come after those. Many people spend hours a day, for work, socializing and entertainment, sitting in front of a screen gathering and dispensing information while things beep and pop up, pictures and videos appear and disappear, quickly replaced by others. There is very little time to absorb or reflect upon what it all may mean.

When people move away from a big screen they carry a smaller one with them so that the flow of information remains constant. If they don’t have the small screen with them most people begin to feel anxious and isolated, afraid that are falling behind or missing out (FOMO).

I don’t know how many people in 2004 were asking for this, but it’s all here, and of course, the mobile, in touch, wireless, information, communication, all the time, everywhere, from everyone, about everything, important, unimportant, and trivial, is only increasing. We have wearables, watchables, and insertable. We also can now live and play in universes that don’t actually exist.

Many people welcome this. Most go along once something becomes popular, Others shy away and have had enough. Still others are baffled, frightened and confused. A few are openly hostile. They attempt to go “off the grid,” but they find that it takes a great effort to live in the developed world and not be somehow connected.