Usually when you want to describe a certain entity or product or idea you initially search for the perfect word. There is a dearth of adjectives when you really need one. But as far as describing the mobile technology is concerned, your worry is not the lack of words but the abundance of it. It is what many call “The problem of plenty”. I am faced with the same now, but after some serious filtering and thought process I have come up with two words... “Revolutionary” and “Game changing”. Right from the day the mobile phone technology became a reality to the present day where nothing is ‘just a dream’ anymore, mobile phones, their progress and evolution has been nothing short of dramatic. The standard is set higher for every new feature addition and the same standard is being broken, surpassed and swept away in a matter of days or months when something new comes up. At this juncture one can only wonder if, even director Shankar can think of a real fantasy feature in a mobile phone that will take years to achieve.
Mobile phones are there everywhere now. Its usage has gone from being described as “Extensive” to “Addictively extensive”. The world was previously divided into fragments by many yardsticks, ‘Continents’, ‘States’, ‘Men & Women’, ‘Race’, ‘Caste & Creed’ and many more, but now there are only two kinds/parts : The ones that own a mobile phone and the ones that don’t. But even this is fast diminishing. The latter are fast dying. After the tigers, perhaps the first species that would, in all probability become extinct will be the ones without mobiles. In time only the new born infants will be without mobile phones (Or will they?)
Most of India’s problems in belonging to the international community has been the fact that the technological improvement around the world has taken too long to reach India. Money, corruption, politics and people have always stood between India and its progress to the pinnacle of growth. This has been universal in the sense that every field of research has been affected by this misfortune. But when it comes to Mobile phones and their importance nothing as it seems can stop India’s path. Come to think of it, international mobile phones are being launched in India the same day as they are being launched around the world!! If this ain’t an achievement I don’t know what else is.
Mobile phones have changed the way the world communicates. Reaching out to people has become easier and more fun. The power of the world has truly come to the palm of man’s hands. Yours truly is a proud owner of a beauty from Sony Ericsson, the Xperia 10mini. With 3g, Wi-Fi, a 5mp cam and powered by Android 2.1 OS, I am found wanting for nothing. With the mobile phone operators throwing open the 3g service nothing is going to be as it was. One can only marvel at the power these tiny devices hold. Tell me, how Cool is it, to be able to tell your dad what the current score in a cricket match is, before the advertisements even end by ‘Touching’ a few icons on your mobile, checking the internet and dishing out statistics???? Uber Cool right?! That is exactly what a modern day mobile can achieve!
Video calling, Skype calls, Social networking, Internet browsing, Gaming, Photography, journalism, R & D, you name it, the mobile phones do it! We have grown. Tremendously! All our fascinations, dreams and visions are not just fantasies anymore. Everything we ever needed is now at just an arm’s length.
The world has shrunk and we must thank the mobile phone technology for it. But just as with every other entity in the world the mobile phone usage too has a flip side to it. When people have real use for something there is bound to be misuse. There are a truck load of negative impacts in the mobile usage in the modern day, true. But what is truer is the fact that, the Pros outweigh the Cons (by a huge margin at that). So all in all, the mobile phone usage today is like the Sunshine, Omnipresent, powerful and life saving. Love it or Hate it, but the fact remains that, you just cannot ignore it!!
