I was at a dinner party last weekend. A few members of the dinner group—myself in particular—are college basketball fans and three of us share the same alma mater, Xavier University. It hasn't been a great season thus far for the Musketeers, but when you have a team you support it through the good and bad.
Our hosts for the dinner party seated us during the second half of Xavier's game with Saint Joseph University. Nearly everyone at the party owns a cellphone, but I was the only one with a smartphone.
So, rather than ask our hosts to wheel in a TV or move the dinner table to the media room, I was able to supply discreet updates on the score to the others that were interested. (And by discreet, I mean I was able to do this without any stern looks from my wife or any orders to, "Put that damn thing away.")
It probably says something about the age group I'm a part of that I was the only one capable of keeping track of a basketball score at the dinner table, but it seems likely that will be changing in the next few years. In glancing at a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center, it shows that 45 percent of adults and nearly 67 percent of young adults now use smartphones rather than cellphones.
Pew also reports that 55 percent of smartphone users go online with their phone and that 17 percent do online browsing on their phone rather than on a computer or other device. First off, why have a smartphone if you are not going to get online? Secondly, that 17 percent figure may seem low, but I believe it is more a reflection on the websites that are not yet mobile-enabled.
My searches on my smartphone better be pretty important if I'm going to have to keep tapping the magnification function so my tired old eyes can read what's on the screen. Those of you selling or servicing over the Internet better heed that warning because for many customers the smartphone is the only computer they own.
I can't see myself disconnecting from my home computer—even as my monthly internet fee from Comcast keeps rising—but as the quality of smartphones improves and web developers follow suit, that could all change in a hurry.
For now, I'm one of another majority that Pew cites: More than half of smartphone users have used their phone to settle an argument of some sort. I found this to be true because had I excused myself from the dinner table on Saturday to find a TV and watch the final minutes of the basketball game, there likely would have been an argument.
That may not have been what Pew had in mind by settling an argument, but thanks anyway, smartphone.
© Arc, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to TMSalesOperations@arc-network.com. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.