With the proliferation of Google Glass and similar advancements, many now wonder where smartphone technology is heading.
It seems that every major company involved in the phone and technology industry seeks to make smart phones smarter. From developing gestural interfaces that integrate the digital with the “real” to creating glasses that do the same, such corporations rely on this form of technology to carry their successes.
Using their own ingenuity and the technology made available through other means, developers generate their own products for the smartphone market. Whether it is Google Glasses or SixthSense Technology, which allows users to use their smartphones to interact with non-digital objects, this kind of project revolutionizes the technological world.
However, the alarming manner in which smartphones are evolving causes some to be frightened of what may come next. In an era in which the people are already so consumed by technology and addicted to it, “improving” smartphones so that they become even more accessible in everyday life may worsen the situation.
Aaron Stell, an English teacher from Van Nuys High School, lamented, “It’s a shame that smartphone developers are more concerned with making products that allow users to make use of their phones 24/7 than the emotional and mental well-being of their consumers. Excessive enjoyment of technology will be to everyone’s detriment.”
And Stell’s concerns are understandable, given the amount of research dedicated to this field. Doctors and researchers at the KEM Hospital, located in India, have concluded that smartphones negatively impact children’s mental development by simplifying menial tasks of memorization, reducing intellect,and shortening attention spans.
According to clinical psychologist Shraddha Shah, smartphones stymie intellectual growth because “this mental process of awareness, perception, reasoning and judgement can only be built if the child experiences something physical, like playing with clay, blocks or a bat and ball. It isn’t possible if s/he is staring into a screen and conquering angry birds.” The intricate motor skills behind such activities are not easily replaceable by smartphones, no matter how advanced they may be.
Despite these trepidations, companies such as Samsung continue to pursue the next level of smartphone technology. Samsung has even announced plans for creating a touchless tablet/smartphone interface through the use of brainwave technology, according to Engadget.
Within the next decade or two, individuals may no longer need a smartphone at all: a complex chip in the brain may completely replace it. Conspiracy theories aside, the next generation may be entirely overrun by technology that inhibits social interactions.
