Th era of the Smart devices: A blessing or a complication
We now live in a world dominated by smart devices, devices ranging from smart phones to even smart bullets. Sometimes we cannot but ponder on the question: Do the smart gadgets actually make our lives smarter or more complicated?
I will give a list of smart devices which are supposed to make life easier, and I will also list out possible disadvantages too.
The Smart phone
Cell phones have been in existence long before smart phones, the first smart phone being launched in the 90's, bearing the name SPC or Simon personal communicator in full. These devices are known as smart phones for a reason, they offer functionalities far above your normal phones and sometimes even rival a personal computer.
Of course, smart phones are not easily concealable which do not make them perfect deep espionage tools unlike your smart watches, however the things a smart phone can do will make you think twice before underrating them.
Smart phones are the best tools to see infrared rays, which are outside the visible rays on the electromagnetic spectrum , meaning your phone's camera might not be fitted with a powerful filter, does that make it unsafe, I really don't know.
Your smart phone offers various functions which makes your life easier. functions such as banking applications designed to save you from the queue at banks over minor issues, health applications to assist you in minor health issues, weather applications to warn you from potential disasters.
But just as there are the good sides of it, it can also be used for nefarious purposes such as hacking and some other activities. The light from smart phones if not properly handled, is capable of damaging the eyes over extended periods.
Smart watches
Smart watches are well... watches with smart phone capabilities. From the advent of analogue Swatch watches, digital wrist watches came into the scene and raking in a lot of cash. After the reign of the digital wrist watches , came the smart watches.
Of course, one can notice that that the smart watches bear a striking resemblance to ordinary digital watches, only difference being the ability to do certain things like call, text and some other smartphone capabilities.
Apple really brought this device into the limelight by aggressively promoting their smart watches which created mass awareness about the existence of smart watches. While some might argue that smart watches were in existence before the apple smart watch, the focus is publicity not creation date.
Smart watches were recently banned in Germany because while some believed these devices as harmless, others saw a potential security risk. Imagine if a terrorist walked into a crowded area with his smart watch being the detonator.
Of course apart from that and some minor issues, these things are nothing but a tiny bundle of joy.
Smart bullets
Although not much is known about this technology yet, largely due to the nature of it's creation (for military purpose), however we do know that it is a game changer when it comes to scenarios like warfare.
Imagine being in tough spot with a hidden sniper taking out your unit, well this bullet is designed to actually not miss.
This doesn't mean it cannot miss, however, it means that you do not necessarily need to aim at the target, all you meed to do is aim at the nearest surrounding close to the target and adjust the range of the bullet which will simply explode on impact and take out the target with high efficiency.
People even brag that if you cannot shoot, this bullet will do the shooting for you. On the down side, imagine an assassin were to lay his hand on such, then a high profile target will have a high chance of dying.
Now there are lists of other smart gadgets available today, but I will rest at these first three and continue later on. The point gotten from this topic is one that is meant to provoke your thoughts. With the total reliance on "smart" tools for survival, we forget to actually train our senses and limbs for such and as such we might be experiencing degeneration of unused organs.
If a lot of people were eager to dump hard covers for ebooks because of the fact that they were easily and more conveniently readable, now a large percentage now prefer audio dictators for ebooks on their smart devices such as smart phones and tablets.
Are we getting to the stage where we will need applications to read to other applications on our behalf? What happens to the hard covers? Will the reading and learning culture phase put faster than we expected?
A soldier who relies on smart bullets, might seem to have the upper hand and we might say of course it keeps our men and women in the uniform alive during war time, but do you know if both parties fought with smart bullets, the casualty rates will be higher because no where to take cover.
Smart watches are cool until they invent those which will look like analogue watches and students will start using them to cheat and we'll have issues with an alarming rate of examination malpractice. Let us hope such a time never comes.
References:
https://www.thesnugg.com/a-brief-history-of-smartphones.aspx
https://spectrum.ieee.org/at-work/innovation/smart-bullets
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@ehiboss technology is a game changer but what matters is how positive or negative we use it.@theheralds
These are blessing for consumers and complications for developers
They're blessings because they're making a lot of work and services more easier day by then thanks to the advancement in technology.
But one thing I really fear is the flaw in the internet of things. It might end good or bad. But I believe humanity will fix it up (they always do) and everything will get more better in time.
Good and educative article.
Happy Steeming
Ill keep on saying technology is both a blessing and a curse...
Typical example..
Blessing :I'm online connecting with my friends miles away and making money
Curse : i have not had time to read my books and converse with my roomates
interestingly written, I think many agree with me
I think it mostly has to do with how you use it, as the old adagio says "with great power comes great responsibility".
It is easy to get consumed by what 'smart devices' can offer to us, but there is a silver lining for everyone.
Always a blessing, we need more :)
They are blessing. In what way?
Think of it,without the invention of all this things i just imagine how void we will be...just my opinion
all that we need now are more smart people!
a world with smart people AND smart devices = World Peace maybe?
:D
@ehiboss, in my own opinion, i would say it is a blessing. For instance with the aid of smartphones we can communicate with friends and family that are far (close), we capture moments - no need of carrying digital cameras around, we listen to music everywhere we go. All these and more embedded in one gadget. It is really a blessing.