Lost Without You
The mobile phone has become such an integral part of our daily lives that living without it can be a nerve-racking ordeal. How do the conveniences it brings weigh against the hidden harm it causes?
Many cant imagine living a day without their mobile phones. Mobile penetration rates are soaring around the world and the ubiquity of the mobile device has heralded the decline of public payphones that many relied on to stay connected. 52% of global web traffic comes from mobile phones and its use has given rise to entire industries and created jobs for many.
According to Gartner intellignce data from February 2019, the global number of unique mobile subscribers in 2017 is 5.1billion and is projected to reach 5.8 billion in 2025.
[1] 2.8 billion of them are in APAC alone, which is expected to have 3.16 billion mobile subscribers in 2025. (excludes countries in CIS & MENA) The mobile penetration rate in APAC stands at 67% same as that globally. However, the mobile penetration rate in developed Asian countries is much higher: Singapores is 147.3% in August 2018 [2] and Hong Kongs reached 232% in April 2015. [3] What this means is on average, every person in Singapore has 1.5 mobile phones and every person in Hong Kong has 2.
Originally developed to serve as a portable phone, the mobile phone has evolved into such a sophisticated and multi-functional device that it has become an integral part of many peoples life. The myriad of functions it can perform has cultivated our heavy reliance on it. We no longer need a watch or clock as we rely on it to tell the time and set alarms. We use it to get updates on news, traffic conditions and weather. Who needs radio, television or newspapers for these? We use it to order food when we are hungry. We use it to book tickets and hotels and plan our trips when we go overseas. We use it book a car when we are rushing to get to a destination. We use it to watch videos, listen to music and play games when we need entertainment. We use it to communicate with our family and friends. We use it to purchase every imaginable goods or service. We use it to find directions when we need to navigate unfamiliar territory. We would be literally lost without it, wont we?
One inherent characteristic that affords convenience to the mobile phone is its small size. The palm-sized gadget is not only easy to hold but also fits easily into a pocket. Even the early models were small, albeit thicker, with the 20-year-old Nokia 3210 measuring 123.8mm by 50.5mm by 22.5mm. Mobile phone manufacturers have consistently churned out compact phones until demand for larger screens grew. Now, phones with screens measuring 6 to 6.5 inches are the norm.
More than a compact version of the traditional phone that can make and receive calls, the fact that the neat device combines multiple functions has made it indispensable. A modern smartphone can not only take photographs and videos but also provide various shooting modes and tools for image enhancement, removing the need to own or carry cameras and other shooting equipment. We no longer need to record our friends contact numbers and appointments in a notebook because our mobile phones save them. They also double up as a thumbdrive and desktop, saving our media files and enabling the transmission of them without the need to be connected to a traditional computer. It is a clock, torchlight, calculator, camera, music player, game console and compass all rolled into one communication device.
Mobile phones can be easily charged with portable chargers and inexpensive ones are widely available. Current infrastructure in many places also makes keeping mobile phones powered a breeze. In Singapore for instance, charging points can be found in
[1] The Mobile Economy 2019, GSMA (2019)
[2] Mobile Penetration Rate, data.gov.sg (2018)
[3] Hong Kongs public payphones are dying out but still hanging on, South China
Morning Post (2016)
Changi Airport and certain MRT stations, hospitals and public libraries. One can also loan portable chargers for free at selected shopping malls. Besides train stations, convenience stores and restaurants, those in Seoul, Korea can also make use of the water-powered charging stations set up along Cheonggyecheon, a narrow waterway running through the capitals downtown.
The capacity to send and receive messages instantaneously has made it easy to communicate virtually anything anytime; this is especially useful when we need to transmit messages quickly such as in emergency situations. Natural disasters, in particular, are times when mobile messaging has proven to be very useful. During Hurricane Sandy in September 2012, disaster response teams leveraged social media to gather intelligence about the event. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and Trilogy International Partners (a wireless telecommunications company) had developed Trilogy Emergency Relief Application (TERA) an SMS-based system that allows aid agencies and mobile phone users in disaster areas to communicate with each other in real time. Mobile communication during natural disasters is often challenging because of damaged communication networks and congestion of phone lines due to the surge in demand. TERA avoids this issue as it uses very little network bandwidth. It also allows text messages to be sent to a specific region, thereby providing customised communication. To help manage the high number of requests, TERA uses key word recognition to automatically send responses to subscribers, making the address of a range of common enquiries much more efficient. IFRC said the system has helped to save more lives by delivering timely, targeted advice to disaster-affected communities. First developed in response to the 2010 Haiti earthquake, TERA is being implemented in 40 natural-disaster-prone countries.
Another major way mobile phones have brought convenience is through apps. Nowadays, there is an app for everything and more than two million apps are available on Google Play (2.6million) and Apple App Store.
Other than communication, many of our day-to-day activities can now be accomplished using one app or another. Banking is an area in which many, especially the younger
The mobile phone has led to greater interconnectedness among people located in different places, and in that sense, has shrunken the world.
generation, use apps for. DBS, for example, offers its customers four apps for their banking needs. According to data released by the bank in 2016, the bank had more than 1.25 million customers who use mobile banking which accounts for over 1.2 million transactions daily across its digital platforms and over 60% of its daily 500,000 logins. Highlighting the importance of integrating banking into customers everyday lives, Pearlyn Phau, Deputy Group Head of Consumer Banking & Wealth Management at DBS Bank said, With increasingly techsavvy customers and rising smartphone usage, we have designed our digital banking services... to provide an intuitive and relevant banking experience.
With a few swipes on their mobile phones, people can now access these services they used to have to go to a bank to access. DBS DBS digibank app, which had 200,000 downloads just two weeks after its soft launch, offers a wide range of functions: money transfer, view transaction records, change card limits and application for new accounts and services. Users can check their account balance with a swipe with the peek balance feature. Introduced in May 2014 and accessible on the Apple Watch, DBS PayLah! is a mobile wallet that makes peerto-peer payments easier. It also allows you to scan and pay merchants or get paid yourself by scanning QR codes, pay bills and make donations. DBS digibank and DBS PayLah! apps have over one million downloads each on Google Play.
Apps developed to provide travel services have made making the necessary arrangements for our overseas trips a breeze. Some of these travel apps such as Travelocity, CheapTickets, Expedia and Orbitz are multi-function ones that have made things even more efficient by integrating a range of travel services into one platform one can not only search and book flights, hotels, cars and activities (separately or together as a package) but also check flight-related information and manage itineraries.
With these apps, search results based on requirements such as travel dates, destination and budget are literally at your fingertips. You can also use them to buy tickets for various attractions and activities and choose to have the available options displayed the way you want using filters for interest, location and more. Evaluating your options is equally easy as photos, reviews and prices are usually included. Some of the travel apps also allow users to save listings they like for future reference and include travel-related articles, adding yet another layer of convenience to the trip planning process. (see page 100)
Speaking of multi-function apps, Chinas WeChat is the epitome. Besides the messaging and media sharing functions it was designed to perform, WeChat allows you to do a myriad of other things thanks to the one million mini apps nested within the app. One can bank, shop, play games, invest and even turn his identity card into a virtual one that can be used just like the traditional card. The extensive list of functions goes on.
The mobile phone has led to greater interconnectedness among people located in different places, and in that sense, has shrunken the world. Many rely on personal mobile phones to stay connected with loved