Tuesday, February 21, 2012

“A New Phone!”

“You got a new phone!” This commonly heard expression speaks volumes about the importance of mobile phones in modern life.

It is impressive, when you stop to think about it, that people so readily notice the 2-millimeter differences between one phone and the next. People tune in to this kind of fine detail only for things that seem especially important. By comparison, if a different everyday item, a hairbrush or a television, were replaced by a new one, five percent different, the change would not draw much attention.

This shows that people attach a high degree of importance to phones. People notice phones because important things happen where the phone is the focus of attention. Based on that, it seems unlikely that the fascination with phones as a way of staying connected could fade anytime soon.