The Development of the Smartphone Technology Worldwide

"It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity." - Albert Einstein The smart phone. Whether it be an Android, iPhone, or Windows phone, over two-thirds of Americans reported owning one, as of April 2015. The proliferation of inexpensive, easy to use, smart technology has shaken up the concept of "going online," and has allowed more people to do so then ever seen in previous years. However, while smart phones have lowered digital barriers to entry, portable smart technology puts us at risk from losing our connections to our surroundings, and our peers.

Empathy is arguably one of our most valuable traits, and one that has insured the survival of mankind as a species, over millennia. Just as romance has relied on nonverbal communication to read between the lines over generations to ensure the evolutionary survival of our species, the Roman Empire devoted public funds (alimenta) and distributed grain to take care of it's impoverished citizens and ensure their individual survival during the Pax Romana (a task tackled today by NGOs and social welfare programs).

In his "A Strategy of Peace" speech at the American University, John F. Kennedy may have very well changed the course of history by declaring a "common link," between the Soviet Union and the United States at the height of the Cold War. From insuring individual survival, to preventing nuclear Armageddon. In the present, Kennedy's dreams are still far from reality. With the Doomsday Clock at it's closest setting to midnight since the fall of the Soviet Union, in a world more interdependent than ever, we would do great justice to Kennedy's legacy by following in his empathetic footsteps. However, the Information Age's digital fruits pose a threat to this being carried out.

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With the first iPhones turning ten years old in 2017, a reflection on the past decade is much warranted. The first smartphones were high in price and were often token signs of wealth, but as newer generations were introduced in the following years, secondhand markets and budget models made them affordable to a large segment of the population. In the previously mentioned report, the Pew Research Center found that fifteen percent of Americans reported relying on their smart phone for web access, with ten percent reporting no home broadband service outside of their cellular data plan. As impoverished Americans, and citizens of less-developed countries gain access to the internet, a rare link is formed between economic classes, and across borders- a link that some view, with reason, as a threat.

One needn't look further than the "Great Firewall of China" to understand the power of communication over the Internet, especially with a broadened audience. Twitter has seen numerous protests in the second and third world coordinated on it's (primarily mobile) social media platform, such as the 2011 Arab Spring protests as well as the 2014 Ukrainian Euromaidan movement. In addition to uniting regions, internet proliferation has international implications. The most visible example of this, while less-than-picturesque, is ISIS's use of social media to recruit foreigners.

Photographs taken at Pope Francis' initial unveiling in 2013 went viral after they were contrasted with photos taken at Pope Benedict's unveiling in 2005, because, in contrast to the 2005 picture, nearly everyone in the audience was using a smart phone to record the event. While useful for citizen journalism, focusing on an electronic screen, causes you to lose your ability to watch the actual event. This happens all to frequently. Just as youth compete for the best Snapchat videos, adults miss the world go by as they type out an email on their phone—an email which likely could have waited.

As email, texting, and social media go global, concern is mounting. In 2014, researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, found evidence suggesting negative correlation between consumption of digital media and empathy levels in youth. The study, published in the journal Computers in Human Behavior, concluded that "time away from screen media, with increased social interaction, may improve comprehension of nonverbal emotional cues." A negative correlation between relative "meaningfulness" of a conversation and the ease of a communication medium, such as writing a letter versus composing a text, has been firmly established.

Despite the near-universal stigma associated with ending a relationship with one's significant other via text message, the majority of daily interaction between involved youth occurs on texting or messaging platforms. By leaving out body language, tone, and other nonverbal cues, messaging and email significantly increase the capacity for miscommunication and unnecessary conflict. This dilemma has already extended beyond the horizon of social spheres, with significant levels of email usage in the businesses of the economic sphere, and even into diplomacy; as of 2008, the Washington-Moscow Direct Communications Link is in the form of a secure computer link for chat and email.

While business and diplomatic correspondence typically has much more thought invested in it than the average private email exchange, the potential for miscommunication between two nuclear powers remains a credible apprehension. With the effects of China's economic slowdown manifest themselves on U.S. markets, and sectarian violence balkanizing regions, we're reminded of the risks we run in a globalized world, and the possibility of future international relations conducted with empathy absent is a harrowing prospect.

While a reversion to a low-tech, pre-industrial is neither desired nor advocated in this paper, stepping back from our smart devices may be a worthwhile step, as nonverbal communication is estimated to represent about two-thirds of all communication. Almost a hundred years ago, Robert Frost wrote "The Road Not Taken,” containing the oft-cited ending: "Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference." Consider taking the path of less connectivity, and build a connection with your peers, not a cellular network.

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