I don’t know about you, but I think that smartphones have changed the world in a unique way. Apple products, androids, blackberries, windows are examples of phones available today. But I sometimes see people with old phones that have only a keyboard or that you flip to use. Now we can depend on technology more than we have in the past. I should start by telling everyone a bit of smartphones past.

The first smartphone was out in 1993 developed by BellSouth and IBM. The early IBM Simon looked like a telephone with touch screen features that was too advanced for its time. It was used for sending emails, calendars, and notepad. The next few smartphones had improvements but they looked more like a video game controller to me. They kept getting better and better with smaller chips, more abilities, and appealing appearance. This carried on until about 2007 when apple introduced the IPhone. They did a great job by making something that is different and what a consumer would like. Smartphones were a major advance from regular cellphones. Regular Cells could call, and some can video record, but it does not have a GPS or a number of other applications available in a smartphone. Now with our amazing technology with advanced smartphones that grow every year, we are destined to have amazing future with these devices.

Smartphones have grown to be so important and obsessions to a few, that people are willing to sleep over at the store to wait for opening. The IPhone 6 is a good example of how crazy people can get. The line was massive at my local mall and people may have slept for two nights! I am not that obsessed with a smartphone, but I think it would be cool to sleep over at a store and be one of the first to buy the phone. EXPENSIVE is the word that I would use to describe recent smartphones these days. A few years ago, I saw a phone for “zero dollars” (and it was a good phone) and told my mom we should buy it. Apparently you there is a catch: you still have to pay monthly payments for two to three years, which makes the “zero dollars” phone expensive as well. An important lesson I learned is that nothing is FREE!

All smartphones have the same idea: apps, fun, calling, notifications, and text. They all have different designs and formats. Smartphones help us with apps for education, games and videos for fun, news, weather, and calendar for planning, and more! I think it is not all about the devices we have but the brains in our head and the faith in our hearts. Some people can put you down just because you don’t have the most recent phone, but my mom has lived without a phone for a whole month or two, we should be able to live without a recent one. Some parents make the choice of giving their child a phone. In my opinion, if they walk to school this decision is fine. If not, but you think they are responsible enough; you can give them a phone but warn them about the consequences of losing it and of fooling around on it. This choice is personal decision. Live life to the fullest and do not become obsessed with a smartphone and their attractive features. Hopefully this article doesn’t encourage you to stay glued to your screen all day because you need to get some fresh air!

What has been your personal experience using a smart phone? What would you like future smart phones to look like or do?

Maxine Mutasingwa