An article in today’s Wall Street Journal has commenters doing their typical rant about how others are idiots. I wonder. Here’s my take as I commented there:
The tools have simply changed for those of us who earn our living in the service economy. I use my iPhone 4S for my email, calendar, GPS, Twitter account, and LinkedIn updates, among other things.
In the ’80s I needed a desktop computer and a laser printer. In the 90s, laptop, internet and color laser printer. A smartphone and blog/website in the next decade became indispensable. I’m sure in the next decade, it will be a chip-enabled pair of carbon fiber Google Goggles that will allow me to multitask while listening in on interminable conference calls. With added sound, I’m sure I’ll be able to conduct simultaneously translated speaking engagements with audiences in other countries, rather than having them listen in on headsets as they did in South America in 2008.
Economists used to say “guns or butter.” Now apparently, it’s phones or food
Yes, all four of us have smartphones in our family, and although I “occasionally” go ballistic at my children’s multitasking while we watch t.v. together (almost never at the dinner table, which is a no-no), I also am proud that my children know how to use their iPhones to navigate in new cities, read the New York Times or Kindle books, keep in touch with friends they’ve made at schools in other states, and keep their parents informed about where they are and what they’re doing. I managed to thrive without computer, wireless phone, or internet in college, but that world is long-gone.
How much do you and your family spend each month on cellular phones and service, and is it worth it?
Aneil
Total Trust 