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There is no escaping the mobile phone. It started out as the ungainly, oversized accessory of businessmen in the 80s, then became smaller and cheaper
in the 90s bringing texting to the masses, then went on to become a fashion accessory and pop culture phenomenon in the early 00s and now over 60% of the
world's population has a mobile phone. Market saturation in some countries is over 120%, meaning there are people who use two or more mobiles to organise
their lives. The mobile phone of today must play back popular music and video files, have a large screen which is touch sensitive or which slides back
to reveal a keypad, connect to the internet at broadband speeds and have several gigabytes of internal storage space. It's also got to have a camera which
can capture images with millions of pixels of detail and record video in slow motion or in MPEG 4 quality. There are other applications of the mobile phone
in today's world, but are mobiles bringing people together or segregating and isolating us from our peers?
There is no doubt that mobile phones have given freedoms to many groups of people, in particular those with disabilities. There are simple, cheap mobile phones which are ideal for keeping tabs on elderly, physically and mentally challenged people, and screen reading software has made mobile phones accessible for blind users as well. Products like Mobile Speak and Talks allow every aspect of the phone's screen to be aurally represented, whether it's GPS software for finding your way or simple text-to-voice services to help blind and visually impaired customers.
The second group who are hugely impacted by mobile phones and with whom the technology is synonymous are teenagers. From a positive point of view mobile phones allow teenagers freedom whilst allowing their parents to always be in contact. A text message from mum asking if your ok is far more discrete but just as reassuring than a voice call. However, mobile phones have their negative sides amongst the adolescent. Mobile phone bullying has been well documented and is hard to trace or detect because of its covert nature, and mobile phone communication can damage the social interaction of young people, changing the way in which face to face relationships develop. There's also the security and safety risks associated with mobile phones as using them makes crossing the road dangerous as concentration is elsewhere, and muggings for mobile phones is prevalent amongst young people who like to have them on show.
Mobiles have also revolutionised the way in which business can be conducted, with the current generation using 3G networking and HSDPA to allow access to the internet, email and video conferencing all in the palm of your hand. Blackberry mobile phones have dominated this market, even famously making their way into the Oval Office at the White House. The security issues associated with storing sensitive and valuable information on phones which are easily hacked have also been talked about extensively.
Mobile phones are also playing a massive part in the news media online and on the television. There is rarely a world event which isn't captured by an enterprising amateur film maker on their mobile phone, whether it's a suicide bombing or a celebrity scandal, and this kind of freedom and ease of image capture is allowing sites like You Tube to continue to flourish.
So the question is where is this all leading us? Well, there is no way that mobile technology of some form or another will ever be taken away from us now that it is so deeply ingrained in our global culture. We will no doubt see a melding of formats as the years progress, as mobile phone review websites and industry experts predict, and mobile phones will become an integrated part of our digital culture.
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