An image that kept me busy on my smartphone on Saturday. 

 

Trending

Anyone who knows me will tell you that I do not like change.  I held onto my Blackberry until it was way out of style.  “All I need is a phone to talk on,” was my excuse when my friends suggested I get a smart phone.  Truly I did not need Internet access for social media, search engines, music and all the things they said I was missing.  Honestly, I saw smartphones as the latest trend for my teenage students.  They were glued to their devices, and it seemed it was dumbing them down and ruining their ability to concentrate. I did not want any part of that. But it has always been said that love can make you do the craziest of things.  When I began dating a tech savvy guy who wanted to communicate in various ways, guess who became a proud smart phone owner.  Over the years owning a smart phone has added so much to my life and my mobile devices have evolved far from just a communication device with my boyfriend to one that I cannot see myself living without.  Like so much of our population, I wake up with my smart phone and go to bed relying on it.

This week in Strategic Communication 6630 we are looking at mobile media.  It is amazing that the industry is taking over communications.  When I look at the fact that my smartphone is used for so much in my life, I wanted to know more about its impact on the world.  A Pew Research article entitled “U.S. Smartphone Use in 2015” by Aaron Smith says that in 2015 64% of American adults owned smartphones and that was up from 35% four years earlier. Pew Research data that year revealed that we use our smartphones to get news, check health issues, look and apply for jobs, look up real estate, find governmental services and even take classes. Sixty-eight percent use their smartphones to follow breaking news. And more and more online activity is primarily through smartphones. The article added that 68% of this population of smartphone owners share pictures and videos or commentary about community events. Ten percent of this population relied on smartphone for Internet access because they had no broadband access. Forty-eight percent had cancelled or shut off their cell service at some time because they could not afford the bills and 30% maxed out their data plans. Mobile devices affect and do so much for so many people.     

The August 2017 article “Where People Can’t Live Without The Internet” by Niall McCarthy surprised me in that it states that India’s population was number one at 82% that responded that they cannot live without the Internet.  The United States came in fifth at 73% behind United Kingdom, China, and Germany.  All over the world, smartphones are relied upon for so many purposes.  With so much information this week about where mobile capabilities are going, I decided to track my usage for one day. This was not a typical day for me since Monday through Friday, I work for nine hours a day.  But this was a typical Saturday during football season. 

One of the first things I did this morning was check the weather to see if there were any remnants from Hurricane Harvey in our area.  My flower garden needed tidying up, so I needed to know if any rain showers might interfere.  Next, as always, I checked social media to see if any friends or family needed birthday greetings.  Then, I checked my emails, personal and work.  The first few minutes of my day I usually depend on one of my mobile devices. After working outside for a while, I wanted to post pictures of my beautiful end-of-summer flowers, so after using my smartphone to take pictures and videos, I posted them to social media. The smartphone got a break while I caught up with the latest on College GameDay on television.  Then I had to rely on my cell phone to see if the USC game would be webcast or on a college football app since I saw that the game was not being televised in my area.  Thinking that the most of my day would be spent in front of a big screen instead of a small smart phone was wrong.  For hours I went from the television to my cell phone and tablet in order to check the USC game details and to also respond to social media comments about my flowers. Honestly, I think I spent 75% of my leisure time using mobile devices today.

This was amazing to me, considering a few years ago, I professed that I did not have any need for a smartphone. The overwhelming message from our resources in Strategic Communication 6630 this week was that mobile is and is going to continue to be the wave of the future for communication success.  We as strategic communicators must stay on top of these trends.  The mobile industry is ever evolving in order to adapt to the new usages and demands of consumers.  New capabilities are being added every day in order to stay competitive and also to help this gadget remain the prize that it is.  Just as I looked at myself and my evolution and dependency on smartphones and mobile devices, I know that I am just a novice.  I use my devices far less than most people, and yet I think I use them a lot.  From new access, to navigational devices, to tools that help students pursue their educations, mobile technology is incredible.  Mobile devices add so much to our lives, allow us access to unlimited information, and treat us to so many conveniences in the palm of our hand. The future is unimaginable for this medium, and I hope that I continue to embrace this wave and learn to use it to the fullest personally and professionally.