The Answer Machine

Nice post on the phone Brad.  I watched the semifinal games last night with a Navy friend that I served with back in Spain from 1990-1992.  Whenever I see him, we naturally reminisce about those days, the days before cell phones and internet.

He and I were on the same watch team and it was a rotation with 12-hour shifts.  One of the things that we talked about last night was how many of those long 12-hour mid shifts we passed by arguing and debating the most innate and stupid things.  Those days were pre-internet and pre-smart phones.  You can't have those kind of debates anymore.  You could pass a lot of time back then by arguing about stuff, because there wasn't really a way to prove who was right.

The "answer machine" has taken away those days.  Back then, if someone said, "Michigan has won more college football national championships than Alabama," there might be a 90-minute debate about which team has won the most.  But now, the minute that question pops up, someone pulls out a phone and has a definitive answer in about 30 seconds.

There is certainly no lack of debate these days, and for some reason I think it tends to be more  emotional.  I am speculating here but I wonder if that is because most of the debating these days is on subjective issues.  If it's objective, we have the answers, so it ends quickly.  Data can be interpreted to say a what you want it to say, so my speculation isn't true across the board obviously, but data interpretation is another topic for another day.  I just finished the book Dataclysm: Who We Are (When We Think No One's Looking).  Pretty fascinating.

It is somewhat odd to call it a phone.  Actually calling people on our PDA, palm computer, or whatever you choose to call it, is probably the least-used function.  What do you guys use your phone for the most?  Not necessarily in the order of percentage of usage, but I use it to text, email, listen to music, get directions (map function), read (kindle app), play games (Ruzzle and Jump Car), check the weather, track bike rides (Strava app), take pictures, check Yelp reviews, pay for Starbucks, identify birds (iBird Pro app), listen to podcasts, check FB, and oh yeah... I occasionally talk to people on the phone too.

Check out this old clip from Conan O'Brien when the iPhone was first released.  A bit prophetic?