Smart Phone Immersion

Image: Man Holding Iphone 8; Wikimedia Commons

Technological immersion that arose from the locomotive system bears much resemblance to the technological immersion resultant from the use of mobile devices and social media. Prior to the development of computerized handheld devices, people used telephones to communicate with one another through phone calls or text messages. These actions did not take much time and did not fully immerse people in technology, and while it made the process of communication easier it did not utterly transform it. Aside from the ability to make phone calls and send text messages, computerized handheld devices bear almost no similarity to their predecessors. In a similar way to how the locomotive transformed the process of transportation, the computerized handheld device entirely transformed how people communicate with each other. Part of this transformation arose from the increased capabilities of the handheld computerized devices. The locomotive system made the transportation process much easier and less noticeable, and similarly, the capabilities of these new cellular phones made the communication process so easy that it has become second nature to many people. Just as passengers of the locomotive system no longer felt the need to converse with other passengers, most users of modern cellular devices choose to greatly lessen the amount of time spent actually conversing with others. Just as early train passengers had a tendency to associate in-person contact with imminent danger, so too do many modern phone users associate in-person contact with fear.