If you lived in the old days before cell phones existed, you would find it totally insane that the device for long call commuications can do everything like photos and calculations, and not just calling. It would make more sense if all you could do with phones is call, text, voicemail, e-mail, and manage contacts, but the fact that it has apps for a whole bunch of other stuff made other stuff obsolete as people fall for these multi-purpose objects.
I'm certainly old enough to remember before cell phones became a big thing (although I can't say I know when they were invented.), and I was certainly shocked when I first heard of a report of a cell phone having a camera. I was like "A camera on a cell phone?! Who would have thought of that?".
With that said, it didn't take me long to accept cell phones having multiple functions. To me it was a natural progression to add more features to cell phones. Cell phones are naturally a device that you want to have on you at all times for communications/emergencies/etc. To add functionality like cameras, music, internet, games, is genius, and it is so beautifully convenient.
I understand that phones can never replace gaming devices, cameras, computers, etc. However, the fact of the matter is that you can't always have all of those devices with you, while a cell phone you are much more likely to have on you more... So having all of those features on them is only a good thing as far as I am concerned.
The part that bothers me though is that kids are more interested into phones these days than any activities. A while ago, they like to ride bikes, play in their backyards, or other outdoor activities. Now they like to stay indoors and play free games with in-app purchases to improve their "worlds" in the games. A while ago, they like to play with toys. Now the only toys they like are their phones or other electronic devices with touch screens. They wouldn't even like Halloween anymore. Granted, there will always be kids that like to go outdoors or play with toys, but those aren't as popular now. Of course, to those that still live in the past, a lot of our "problems" would seem ridiculous. Earlier generations lived through tougher times before, but people these days feel like the world is over if the wi-fi goes out.
I hope you realize that, sitting here posting on a video game forum, you are posting the very same argument that older generations have been using against video games altogether for ages.
You are really becoming the very stereotype of the older generations vs younger generations that pervades all of the way back to at least "You kids and your rock n' roll!" (I'm sure it goes much further back than that). Some people like outdoor activities, some don't. My nephew who has very much been introduced to video games and a device that is a lot like a cell phone still likes playing outside. On the other hand, I way back in the late 90s came to find video games much more enjoyable than playing outside. I didn't have a cell phone until 2004, yet I retreated indoors long before that.
Older generations laugh at my generation when we don't have air-conditioning/heating. That's the way it was back in the day, they say. They would say exactly that their generation lived through much tougher, yet here we act like the world is ending when there isn't air-conditioning.
"Wi-Fi" is kind of a big deal. Perhaps it isn't such a necessity to our well-being as air-conditioning and heating; however, it has really changed our lives. Communication has really been opened up, gaining knowledge through research is SO much easier, media such as music, TV shows, movies, etc. has now become so much easier to consume and we have a much wider selection available to us and even a lot of it to sample for free, etc., etc.
You and I may not have grown up with the internet (well, I had limited exposure to it in my childhood, but not much until 2004), but we have to understand that for the younger generations the world with high-speed internet is all they know. Just like the world with so many luxuries like cable TV, recorded music in the form of tapes/CDs, video games, cars, etc. is all I've really ever known. And even though I didn't get high-speed internet in my life until my mid teens, I still flip out when the internet goes down.
What did I expect?
