Cell-phones – a blessing or a curse?

The speed in which the modern world is changing is astounding although nowadays people don’t really notice the everyday miracles of our times. Fifteen years ago mobile phones were considered a novelty and today each of us owns one which makes many of his / her daily chores easier but also make us attached to it more than we would like.

It is strange for us to think of a phone which only has one function, just like with other pieces of technology which are steadily becoming more and more multifunctional. Thankfully the modern devices are getting cheaper and many people (mostly young people) can afford them. This means that anyone can enjoy the technological advances of our ages. Cell-phones can serve us as notepads, cameras, translators, mp3 players, schedulers, alarm clocks and many more.

Apart from the good sides of our pocket-pals the mobile phones also can make our lives harder. All the functions though helpful can dazzle us with their usefulness and ease of access to a point in which we can’t pick them down again. Many people become addicted to their helpful devices. Because of the fact we have them almost all the time with us they can serve as distractions in-between meetings, work, friendly get-togethers and even in our trips to the bathroom. App-developers take that into consideration and design games and applications that catch your eye fast and are played / used in short bursts. This gave the origin to the casual games, which are easy to pick-up and play, have simple rules, colourful presentation and are attractive to all ages. The main titles that are most popular from these are: angry birds, candy crush, pou, subway surfers and fruit ninja to name a few. These games tend to focus on simple graphics, dynamic action and gameplay which is designed in a way that it’s easy to lose but also to start over.

The portable nature of the smartphone make it also easy to create habits for their users. The short bursts in which we interact with the device make it ideal for learning foreign languages, maths, guitar chords, sketching or test our brain with puzzles or brain-training games and make sure it’s stimulated every day.

It’s hard to tell where the technology will bring us in the near future. It definitely will strive to make our daily lives even easier than they are now. But also we have to be careful that the technological advances won’t affect our lives too much and we won’t get addicted and lose ourselves in our mobile companions.

Grzegorz Konopski

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