Imagine a world where mobile phones no longer existed. Would it be a heaven or a hell? There is no doubt the mobile phone has completely revolutionized our lives. We take it for granted now, but it wasn’t so long ago that all calls had to be made from fixed-line telephones. Remember always speaking to people on the phone from the hall of your home or while seated at your office desk? Remember those days when you couldn’t be contacted when you left the office for a meeting or lunch or when you went on holiday? If someone wanted to speak to you on the phone, they had to wait until you were either at your desk or at home. That simpler world slipped away from us sometime during the 1990s, and now we are all contactable 24/7.
Of course, being able to talk to someone whenever we want brings many advantages. Life has become easier to organise. If we are late for a business meeting due to heavy traffic or a cancelled train, we can phone someone to let them know. Families can contact one another much more easily. If your teenage son is likely to be late home from a school football match, he can phone or text you to let you know.
Mobiles make multi-tasking much simpler too. Nowadays it is possible to talk to someone in your office while you are shopping in the supermarket or to talk to a client while you are at home looking after a sick child. You can also utilise the services of a Visitor Management System company such as https://www.ofec.co.uk/web-and-software-development-services/digital-visitors-and-staff-signing-in-book.aspx to implement a digital signing in system so you can be free to answer that phone should it ring whilst your staff and visitors sign themselves into the building, whilst still talking on their mobiles.
We are also safer thanks to the ubiquity of the mobile phone. If your car breaks down, you can phone for help immediately. If you are worried about walking somewhere alone at night, knowing you can phone for help is reassuring or, of course, you can simply call a taxi.
Surprising Phone Facts
According to a study by UCN, an incredible 12.4 billion phone calls are made every day.
We also spend the equivalent of 23 days a year on our phones.
So what would a world without phones be like? There would be a few advantages. After all, being contactable 24/7 has its drawbacks, not least because it means the boss can speak to you at any time. Smartphones mean that our work emails are only ever a couple of clicks away, causing a great deal of stress for some. People are also less likely to strike up conversations with those around them, often preferring to text or call their friends or catch up on emails.
There is no doubt that the mobile phone is a great asset in our day-to-day lives but there is also no harm in switching them off once in a while and paying attention to the people and sights around us.
