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TIME Names iPhone Most Influential Gadget of All Time
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You're comparing a tiny 4.7 inch display to a TV.. you think it's the same experience or even close?
Ah, but take into account the things I mentioned that a smartphone replaced or added.
Relatively few owned a GPS, now everyone has one... life is easier- getting where you're going.
Relatively few carried a camera/video camera with them everyday; now everyone has one... life is better- capturing amazing moments.
Relatively few carried around a laptop with a mobile hotspot literally at all times; because it was bulky, inappropriate, and prohibitively expensive; now everyone has access to the full internet at high speeds everywhere... life is better- more convenient, access to finances, etc.
I could go on & on but I don't have to- it's ridiculously clear that the positive impact of smartphones in raising quality of life for the populace exceeds that of the television... unless you think you can make me a matching list of all the ways tv fundamentally enriched lives beyond bringing news, sports, shows, & movies into their living rooms.
I'm not really making an argument about one being more impactful than the other, I've been commenting on simply not discounting the impact of television as being meaningful and useful, or that we can live without it given that we can (and have) lived without smartphones or mobile phones (and most other gadgets on the list) for a long long time.
Dear children, who are apparently working at Time magazine:
Something that's only been around for ten years can hardly qualify as the "most" anything of all time, since we have yet to see how things play out over the long haul.
You know, like for longer than you've personally been self aware.
Something that's only been around for ten years can hardly qualify as the "most" anything of all time, since we have yet to see how things play out over the long haul.
You know, like for longer than you've personally been self aware.
Yes.
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No?
You should go out more often.
And see how many people are out there everywhere... looking at their iPhones.
And how the iPhone changed the world: social networks, tinder, uber, etc.
Because of Instagram, and people taking photos of pretty plates of food, serving beautifully arranged dishes is a priority for any restaurant that wants to be successful.
Instagram wouldn't be possible without the iPhone, and that change wouldn't have happened.
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Well, something like the Internet has been around for not that long but we could see how being able to access almost any information from wherever you are would be of great influence on our lives even after just a few years.
Right. Lets eliminate and trivialize most (but not all) the things TV did for the world and then compare to an idealized picture of what smart phones do...
Ok, I'll bite:
Now, no one actually knows where sh-t is. They just blindly follow a voice from their phone. Heaven forbid you from actually know anything about this world you live in, just let that screen in your pocket tell you everything you need to know.
Now, people are too busy taking pictures so they can post 1000 updates a day about what you ate for lunch and what little johnny looked like after his first banana cereal instead of actually living in the moment.
Yep, now when you go out to dinner, everyone's got their phone on the table and "checking-in", "tweeting" or, for the love of god, "tindering". What has this iPhone replaced? Actually interacting with the person sitting next to you.... Yep, life's got better.
Anyway, I'm not actually this bitter about it. I have an iPhone in my pocket right now and use it plenty, but I'm not so blind as to ignore the well documented negatives to the iPhone (which I guess you could say is influential, but in the wrong direction).
Motorola didn't invent the mobile phone. Get your facts strait.
Even so, the iPhone at the top is not about who first did a mobile phone, it's more about the way the iPhone paved the way for all the things we now expect a mobile phone to do.
Because phones now have GPS, people are more willing to visit another city or another country, and aren't dependent on a pre-determined "touristic guide", there's Uber for instance, that depends on smartphones's GPS and maps. Taxis are going unceremoniously away, and so are bad drivers, smelly cars, and because it shows the GPS route to the driver and the rider, there goes fraudulent taxi drivers.
Because people take more pictures at food, more people care about how food looks, and healthy food (with lots of colorful vegetables) is what looks good.
Because of Tinder, now you don't need to to things you don't like (like going out to clubs) to get casual sex.
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So, you disagree with the list - or at least the number 1 position - and you attempt some sort of insult or whatnot by labelling the person or people who compiled the list as children? How very mature.
And compiling a list of favourites or bests or whatever up until now is kinda the point in the first place of making a list such as this! It is only up until now, this moment, right now (unless you reference the hilarious Spaceballs scene where now is never attainable!). A list 20 years ago would have looked a lot different, as it will be in 20 years time, no doubt, though perhaps with only a few new additions.
Which is exactly why my problem is with calling anything new the most influential of "all time".
"All time " is a very long period, so it the length of time something has been an influence should count quite a bit, in addition to its breadth of influence.
For example, as someone pointed out, TV has been around much longer and influenced many more people's lives. Ditto for gadgets like wristwatches.
Smartphones themselves, and the iPhone in particular, are nowhere near as widespread or influential on a global scale, even into tiny otherwise unconnected villages, or for that matter, all the millions of people who still do not own a smartphone.
And yes, the older a person is, the less that a newer gadget could have been that great an influence in their overall life experience.
E.g. does GPS make my life easier at times? Sure. Is it a definitive influence on me? Nope. Learning to read maps for decades was far more so. GPS is just a new convenience. So perhaps some of these should be ranked as "most convenient gadgets".
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You are correct about the iPod. At one point, the iPod had the same prominence for Apple as the iPhone has today. At that time, Apple was accused of not caring about their Macs because so much of the money was coming from the iPod.
I remember when I was a student having an argument until 2am about who was the best band oasis or radiohead- utterly pointless but fun at the time
Simply amazing effort in response to a Sarcastic Reply with no real interest in the topic. I commend your dedication to the Cult.
You're saying that Time's clickbait issue of the year (and that's saying something) is the magazine equivalent of clickbait?
Say it isn't so!
