What is a "phone"?

Phones used to be phones. We still call them phones but could there be a bigger understatement than that? PDA is the distant relative acronym of SUV that is used. I think its time to think a bit more globally.

I'm drawing inspiration from the very young in my life as well as elder statesman. Let's start with Sasha and Kira. Our girls routinely play with fake plastic phones in the back of my car. I listen passively to their creative play. In any given trip in the car they may text with Mommy, watch some videos, look at the weather, find some cool information, and occasionally they talk to somebody. To them, in their creative world their phone is a fix all solution. I think what we carry in our pockets every day is more of a fix all solution than it is a phone.

To the elder-statesman, Dad. He typically refers us to "that pad thing that has all the answers". While typically I snatch up on Ipad we have in our house when he has a burning question that needs answered, it is just as easy to grab my phone from my pocket and instantly have access to that same information. Hey do you know (what/when/where/why/how) (who/what) did (when)? No I don't, but I can find out really quickly. A phone is a solution provider.

I think we take for granted the power and flexibility of the tool we carry in our pockets. Now the challenge becomes using that sizable power for productive endeavors instead of reading Twitter and Facebook feeds all day.