Smart phones have changed the way I live.
I remember in the early 2000's proclaiming to all my friends that the day I can check the BOM (Bureau of Meteorology) storm radar images on my mobile phone will be the day true hand held computing will have arrived for me.
By 2006 my wish came true on my Xda O2 Atom smart phone/PDA device. It was happy days - being able to keep on top of the weather's movements during the day was fantastic.
Cut forward to 2011, and everyone has a smart phone. My current iPhone has a processor 200 times faster than my families first personal computer (with 1600 times the storage capacity and 10,000 times the RAM!).
They are everywhere, and they are rapidly altering the way I communicate and access information.
The biggest impact the first smart phone I owed had on me was being able to check my emails anywhere. Suddenly, there was no escape - my emails sat with me next to my bed as I lay down to sleep, and they were there waiting for me when I woke up. Heading down to the shops? Waiting in line for something? Watching TV? My emails followed me everywhere, and I found that I would check them habitually just because I could.
This was not necessarily a bad thing - I did run my own business and it was very convenient for the most part. It was just a change. A BIG one.
The recent explosion of mobile apps and high speed data connections for mobile devices has obviously pushed this change into another dimension. Our mobile phones have become the personal computer in our pocket, allowing multiple platform communications and access to information services that a few years ago didn't even exist.
But I do find that I am somehow addicted to my phone now. If I leave the house without it accidentally, I feel somewhat naked. For starters, how the hell will I know where to go without Google Maps? And when I get there, how will I get money into my account without accessing my banking services? What if I have to wait for a few minutes - what will keep my mind occupied in those awkward social situations? What if some news occurs and I am the last one to hear about it?
Back from my 'naked' excursion, I'll find myself with idle time, so I will check my emails, the weather, scan twitter, load the news updates and flick through a few blogs. All these things are great, but my need for information actually increases by having it available, rather than it becoming satiated. The habit of checking these information sources for updates is sometimes just that - a habit, rather than a fully conscious undertaking.
So, I have been switching my phone off for a few hours each weekend. I know, that stimulating headline would read "Man switches off iPhone, lives life for a few hours". It is pretty simple, but there is a freedom to shutting off your devices and forgetting about them for half the day or so. Just being calm, slow and present with what you are doing feels easier this way, without the temptation of constantly seeking more and more info, or having your time interrupted by a call or message.
I recently watched an amazing documentary about a guy who camps out on Lake Eyre for 4 weeks taking photos. I wondered at that feeling of isolation and how amazing it would feel to be totally cut off from society and communications, existing for that time in a barren wasteland. But in the third or fourth scene I laughed as Murray, the photographer, is shown having a half argument with his wife via a satellite phone.
Don't forget to switch off now and then.
