It's a quandary, isn't it? Even those of us who make fun of kids having their noses in their smartphones become slaves to technology. If you don't believe it, look up from your phone and look around.
The other day, I went walking outside my office complex and wasn't surprised. Every person – every single person – was looking at their smartphone screen. It was almost enough for me to post it on Facebook. Instead, I texted my amazement to Mrs. Brad.
LOL, as we say online.
Handheld technology has taken over the world.
This is where the old-timer is supposed to complain about society and how it's not as great as when people actually talked to each other. But to write about that, I would need to search Google on my smartphone for information about when cellphones reached the tipping point and whether there have been any significant studies about social interaction since.
If I find it, I'll tweet about it (You can follow me @bradstanhope), because the explosion of smartphones is the #biggestchange of my lifetime.
I've thought about this a reasonable amount lately – about how much we rely on technology in our everyday lives. I'm not alone – based on social media posts, a lot of people do so.
But I'll be frank: I'm as reliant on the technology as a garden-variety teenager. I don't know what I would do if smartphones were no longer available, but it would likely include a lot of fetal-position crying. And I'm not alone – witness the number of people who you'll see staring at their phones today.
Sometimes, it's ridiculous. Consider the scene at sporting events, where something dramatic happens and most fans are recording it on their phones. I guess they want to see a terrible video of something they could have watched live.
But that's what people do. If we have smartphones, we use smartphones.
I use mine for communication, maps, music, Internet access and to buy things. And that's all while I'm driving! (Just kidding . . . as far as you know. ROTFL.)
In fact, I recently started putting my phone in another room while relaxing with Mrs. Brad, because I was too often checking scores of sporting events instead of being present with her. But then I still sneak away and check my phone. Just in case, you know.
Has there been a revolution in history that changed our basic daily habits so fast? Fire was a game-changer, but it took decades before the caveman stopped using electric heaters. Centuries after the invention of the printing press, most people still didn't read. Automobiles were plentiful within a decade or two of their introduction, but there were still horse-driven buggies. Even personal computers, which came on at a breakneck pace, didn't move from luxury to necessity as fast as smartphones.
A decade ago, almost no one had them. Now we all depend on them: They are our phone book, camera, video recorder, radio, music collection, stereo, TV, personal computer, bank and phone.
How do you react if you forget your phone at home? It's time to panic!
I guess this is a long journey to say this: We love our technology. We want our smartphones.
If terrorists really wanted to paralyze us, they would find a way to make it impossible for us to use them. How could we live if we had to go back to the old days?
#unthinkable.
Brad Stanhope is a former Daily Republic editor. Reach him at bradstanhope@hotmail.com.
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