Analysis on Cell Phone-Dependency – Are They Our Best Friends?
Imagine this: you wake up, go to work, run errands, get back home and you are never ever interrupted by the funky melody you selected on your cell phone. No way, you might think! Or, to others, this might seem like the worst nightmare. What, no cell phone? What life is that, when I am not connected to people, to the outside reality? What if something happens? What if I need something urgently? All these might sound familiar to you, if you are one of those cell phone-dependant individuals who lost the much needed item once and had to deal with the tragic loss for at least one day. One horrible day, right? Ok, but is this attitude and, let’s say it straight: dependency… desperation healthy? Just ask yourself: how did people survive like 15 years ago, when there was no mobile phone in sight?
The fact is that the cell phone is just a tiny example from what can be called “the technically optimized world”. The phrase “I can’t live without Internet” is redundant by now – wow, that happened fast! – and the cell phone seems to be the runner up on the “Things I Can Not Live Without” list. Or, for that matter, on the “3 Things to Take on a Deserted Island” list – who needs matches and knives to eat and survive, when you have your tiny silver friend with digital camera and mp3 player, have loads of fun, chat and call for food or help?
But we have to give the cell phones some credit. It might not be healthy to depend on a device that runs on battery, but the thing is that at least, the mobile phones promote communication between people – as opposed to other “I Can Not Live Without” technical wonders that, let’s say, computer games, which promote detaching from the real world and entering, enjoying and basically living in a fantasy. So, as long as we remain fixated in the reality and we relate to people and not imaginary friends produced by high tech and science, then cell phones gain points.
But let’s not leave aside the number one flaw of the mobile phones, namely the stress they cause. Why doesn’t he answer? Why doesn’t she call? Why do they call me every other second?, plus the constant bugging and interrupting from any type of daily activity. But hey, we created it, we wanted it and now, we can’t live without it. It is just how it works.
No, we are not talking about fashion shows presenting the latest designer collections on catwalks, transmitted with the help of the mighty technological supports. Actually, we are talking about the fashion of technology. Does technology has its own fashion? Now it does, even though we couldn’t have said the same thing some years ago.
At first, technology was a synonym for functionality and science. But that area has been completely covered and it still is permanently updated. We wanted functional, practical new, powerful and innovative devices – and we got them! So, what was missing from this package? One word: style. Style, as in trend or as in fashion – this is the one feature that completes the optimized appeal of any technological device. From the texture to the lines and shapes, to volumes and sizes to colors, style has become a definite criterion when selecting the trendiest and latest gadgets. From the minimalist shapes and metallic outlets of the iPods to the decorative, glittery and vibrant colors of the cell phones, the fashion plays a role that buyers do not neglect anymore.
Where will the so called collaboration between technology and fashion go? Will devices and gadgets be considered fashion accessories “must-haves” rather than functional “must-haves”? Nowadays, it seems that fashion is infiltrating in more and more fields and it will be interesting to see what the future will bring.
Reality versus illusion. Or, more explicitly, ugly versus beautiful. And guess what? Beautiful wins. Illusion wins. Photoshop wins. If we think about it, it is not even a competition. How can perfection compete with imperfection? – In a world where perfection is obviously represented by the ideal images that are results of the wonder software called Photoshop.
But wait: a software that can change the perception on beauty, on reality, on the world itself? Exactly. A software that manages to adjust, to transform, to improve, to enhance and to upgrade any kind of “less than perfect” image. We can say that Photoshop is the less dramatic version of plastic surgery. Do you want a liposuction? No need to go through surgery and recovery and all that painful package. Photoshop can adjust you how you please, in a matter of minutes, with the help of a few clicks and, well, it doesn’t even cost you. Do you want a perfect, smooth skin? No trouble for Photoshop! Why spend heavy money on lotions and treatments, when you can fool anyone with a tiny bit of help from the magic-provider, known as Photoshop?
Oh wait: we said the exact word: “fool”. Because that is the only thing we can achieve with image retouching. From the covers of the magazines to pictures that represent better, yet fake versions of ourselves, to the merchandise in the ads that looks better and more appealing than in reality, that is what we do: we live in an illusion.
Is technology taking us by storm… still? Are we still coping with its repercussions and effects? Actually, the question should be: are we actually aware of its repercussions? This might be an intensely debatable issue. But the facts are that, nowadays, the super might technology – and by that, we mostly mean computers, plus the obvious and mandatory Internet connection – actually represents a compensatory world.
At first glance, this world is the world of computer games with their 3D monsters or the world of the fully colored graphics and animated websites. Is that all? Actually, at a more profound ideological analysis, we observe the fact that this reality with technological support - if we may call it reality and not virtual fantasy – is a world where we want to escape, to play, to relax and to dream. Think about it: doesn’t the technology offer us all the above? Where will it end? Step by step, all human pleasures, dreams and desires will have a correspondent in this endless, limitless and charming virtual space.