Smartphones are a deeply ingrained necessity in modern life, offering a wide range of features and conveniences that have dramatically changed the way we live. However, they also come with their own set of problems, including unfair pricing and the health risks of overuse.
Smartphones are a deeply ingrained necessity in modern life. When switching cell phones or signing up for a new one, it’s rare to choose a feature phone over a smartphone, especially among young people. Smartphones have been around for more than a decade, and almost every aspect of society has a smartphone-based infrastructure, including banking, public transportation, and business communications. One netizen parodied Descartes’ quote, “I have a smartphone. I exist.” This article aims to help those who are unfamiliar with smartphones understand their revolutionary life-changing features, impact on our lives, and problems by briefly explaining their characteristics.
Let’s start with the meaning of the name “smartphone.” “Smart” is a word that means clever, and has added meaning over time since its first use in engineering. While it initially referred to devices with innovative and advanced features, it has come to refer to systems that are user-centric and interactive. The concept of “smart” has been applied to many different areas, such as smart grids, which maximize the energy efficiency of power grids, or smart work, which is the use of mobile devices to work efficiently anytime, anywhere. In the case of smartphones, IBM’s Simon, often cited as the first smartphone, had a touchscreen, email, memo, and simple internet capabilities, but by today’s standards, it was only a multifunctional feature phone. As the cell phone industry evolved, smartphones became smaller, with capacitive touchscreens, CPUs, and operating systems. While it’s difficult to clearly define a smartphone, it’s simple to think of current cell phones with common characteristics as smartphones.
There are three main characteristics of smartphones. First, a general-purpose operating system and its application capabilities. While feature phones before smartphones had CPUs and operating systems, they had limited functions and interfaces, smartphones have high-performance CPUs and general-purpose operating systems that allow you to install a wide variety of software. Software on smartphones is called “applications” and can be downloaded from “markets” or “app stores” where applications are distributed by operating system. Ordinary users can program, install, and use applications, and there is a growing number of one-person businesses that develop and sell applications. Smartphones are miniature computers and can be reformatted in many ways.
Second, the free flow of information over cellular networks allows for free internet access, and many applications are network-based. For example, weather applications can receive real-time information from the weather service and notify users, and messenger applications can send messages without incurring communication charges. Online games that require complex information transfer can also run over the smartphone network.
Third, touchscreen capabilities. Today’s smartphones all support capacitive touchscreens, which allow for a wide range of functions. With two fingers, you can easily zoom in and out of internet pages or camera focus, and you can take dynamic control in games. Flipping through the screen is also simpler and more intuitive, moving from the traditional button press to a finger swipe.
As more and more people use smartphones, their lives have become centered around them. For example, the Seoul Bus application allows you to know the entire route and arrival time of the bus. Messenger applications such as KakaoTalk and TikTok support group chats, providing an environment for meetings without time and space constraints. Social networking services such as Facebook and Twitter have also seen a significant increase in usage, as they are easily accessible on smartphones. Banking, booking movies and train tickets, checking and filling out documents, and many other tasks can be done anytime and anywhere with a smartphone. Businesses are also using smartphones to promote themselves, using QR codes to provide a variety of information, for example, and creative applications have been developed, such as augmented reality features that combine cameras, GPS, and networks, so the possibilities are endless.
But smartphones also have their problems. For one thing, carriers have unfair pricing plans. When you buy a smartphone, you’re required to use a smartphone-specific plan, which is often overpriced for the amount of data you use. Many people, especially middle-aged and older users who aren’t familiar with the latest technology, don’t realize this unfairness. We’ve also developed a side effect of overusing our smartphones called “smartphone syndrome. These include turtle neck, which is caused by prolonged use with the head down, and tunnel syndrome, which is caused by strain on the fingers and wrists from using a narrow keyboard. In addition, dry eyes and nearsightedness are often aggravated by looking at smartphone screens for long periods of time. Measures should be taken to prevent these side effects.
Advances in technology are accompanied by changes in lifestyle. Since the invention of the telephone, communication with people over long distances has become natural, and with the development of the Internet, most of the announcements and information from official organizations have been posted on the Internet. Currently, a smartphone-centered lifestyle is taking hold. In this period, understanding the core functions and current status of smartphones is essential to keep up with the times, and can be an opportunity to create new value. Smartphone capabilities are evolving rapidly, and our lives are changing with them. It’s up to us, the users, to use technology wisely and not be overwhelmed by it.
