The product that I chose to research and present for the class is Apple’s iPhone, arguably the most well-known piece of technology in modern times. The company Apple was founded by Steve Jobs in 1976 and they began solely producing computers. There was a lot of work that went into developing the first iPhone, as it was a pretty complex piece of technology. Scientists spent years trying to figure out how they could make a handheld phone that essentially acts as a computer. They also had to do a lot of brainstorming on how to make their product different from the blackberry which was dominating the cellphone market at the time. One way in which they would differentiate themselves from Blackberry was by adding a touch screen to the iPhone. Touchscreen technology has been around since the 1970s, however it had never been used on a phone. At the time people didn’t really know what to think about the touch screen aspect of the iPhone as most people didn’t even know what a touch screen really was. The next obstacle Apple faced was figuring out how they could power a device like a touchscreen phone. They eventually decided on using a lithium ion battery which would be able to store enough power to keep the iPhone running. The last challenge they faced was getting the internet onto a phone. This was no easy feat as they would need to add a processor that would basically make the iPhone into a mini-computer. Through years of development, Apple was able to create the first iPhone which began being sold in June of 2007 and started at $499 for the 4G model.
Over the years there have been twelve basic models of the iPhone, along with 26 additional models made with extra features. Another pretty wild statistic is the fact that the iPhone has sold over 2.3 billion iPhones since the first iPhone was created. That statistic alone speaks to the magnitude of the iPhone in my opinion. To think that there are 7.8 billion people on earth and yet there have been 2.3 billion iPhones sold is pretty wild. This invention has drastically changed the world and the way people communicate. In modern-day America, it is harder to find someone who doesn't have an iPhone than it is to find someone who does. We take it for granted, however, if you look back 20 years ago and proposed the idea of having a mini computer that acts as a cell phone in your wallet, people would've looked at you like you were crazy.
I think that the iPhone has overall positively affected the world and changed the way we communicate, however, I do also think it has had some negative effects on people as well. One of those negative effects is that social media apps tend to be very addicting and can cause some people to spend too much time on them instead of being out in the real world. I see this all the time with younger people specifically my younger siblings who can't even sit through dinner at a restaurant without wanting to use my parent's phone. This is pretty scary as people might lose the ability to socialize and become overly dependent on their iPhones. Social media also can have a negative effect on children. 64% of teens say that social media has a negative effect on the way things are going in the U.S. The iPhone enables the use of social media and in my opinion, plays a big role in the effects that social media has on children. I think monitoring your kid's screen time is very important when it comes to trying to limit the effects of social media on them.
No comments:
Post a Comment