My smartphone is smart. As a millennial, the memory of the time when everyone had flip phones is rather distant. Compared to these relics of telecommunication, smartphones are really, really advanced. With a flip phone, you could make calls and send text messages (and carry it in your pocket), play a few games, and very clumsily browse a limited part of the web. Want to take a picture with your flip phone? It's going to come out rather grainy -- it makes much more sense to use an actual, you know, camera.
Now then, smartphones are a whole other world. It's like Apple et al. took the laptop computer and shrunk it into a palm-sized device. I can instantly tell my phone to call someone or send a text message. I don't even have to touch it to make that happen. Face-tracking technology on the camera makes snapping a good picture a breeze.
I can quickly take a video of anything going on around me. I can tell it to wake me up from a nap in 20 minutes. With a few taps on the screen, all my emails are before me and I can get stuff done any time, anywhere. My world moves faster than ever because -- well, my phone is kinda smart and is an enabler of that rapidity.
Instead of carrying a legal pad and pen around with me, I can quickly type out a note whenever a novel idea crosses my mind.
Its apps allow me to read PDF books on the fly, so I have a library in my pocket. If I have a question about nearly anything known to humankind, it'll spit out an approximately correct answer.
Does my brain seek novelty and newness? Absolutely -- I have a constant, relentless thirst for new information and new knowledge that I can apply to tackle specific problems or simply enrich my imagination and intellect. Satisfying my curiosity certainly does cause a surge of pleasure. Isn't that part of the wonder and delight of doing science?
My nose is buried in my smartphone as I'm waiting in line at the cafe? Sure, but I'm learning faster about more than ever before (and to those who only "skim" scientific papers, books, and so on -- this is an activity that can be justifiably critiqued, as "skimming" isn't deep learning). Or maybe I'm using my time to send an email -- or I'm checking the results of that latest multiple sequence alignment, allowing me to have a better idea on how to structure a research project.
My smartphone is smart, and arguably makes me smarter.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go charge my smartphone.
Edited by Genomicus, : No reason given.
Edited by Genomicus, : No reason given.
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