My phone has a couple of really good map apps: I go all around the world without ever getting out of my chair. And the moon, and Mars, and sometimes the Carina nebula.
I love google maps. As a kid I liked regular maps, but now, to be able to go to a city and then go down to the street level and just “walk” around… so much fun! I was an Air Force brat and once we left a place, I never saw it again. Until google maps. I’ve been able to find most of the houses we lived in. Cool.
Philippines too. Friend some relatives in the PI and you’ll be amazed at the shockingly inane and disturbingly personal things people post.
My favorites are reading the seemingly private two-way conversations people post on their main pages.
Is it really? Come on, it’s not that bad that someone’s texting his Mom, is it?
If anything the USA was a bit late to this party. When I went to England in 2000 the commonness of mobile phones, as opposed to what I saw in North America, was striking. Someone explained the economic reason for this to me but I forgot it.
The most pickpocketed item in this year’s Sanfermines was cellphones. The snazzier, the better.
China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Korea and Japan are all glued to their phones.
Yes, in the UK in the late 90s it seemed like we went from a few people having mobile phones to almost everybody having them, in the space of a few years.
I think the factors were:[ul]
[li]GSM became the main standard, so we avoided most of the issues with different, incompatible standards[/li][li]Text messaging on the back of GSM became phenomenally popular almost overnight, and there was no fee for receiving text messages (unlike, I understand, the fee structure in some other countries)[/li][*]Pay As You Go was introduced early, and made the phones affordable even to young people, who were the most enthusiastic texters.[/ul]
[quote=“Ximenean, post:47, topic:774076”]
Yes, in the UK in the late 90s it seemed like we went from a few people having mobile phones to almost everybody having them, in the space of a few years.
I think the factors were:[ul]
[li]GSM became the main standard, so we avoided most of the issues with different, incompatible standards[/li][li]Text messaging on the back of GSM became phenomenally popular almost overnight, and there was no fee for receiving text messages (unlike, I understand, the fee structure in some other countries)[/li][li]Pay As You Go was introduced early, and made the phones affordable even to young people, who were the most enthusiastic texters.[/ul][/li][/QUOTE]
Basically this. Change the country from UK to Pakistan.
One interesting thing is how late the US came to texting; even as late as 2009, it was seen as trendy and “hip” (per this thread when I asked) and many did not use it. Obama’s decision to inform people about his choice of Biden as his running mate, was seen as him being tech savvy; something that raised eyebrows elsewhere since sending information to supporters by text was old hat elsewhere by then.
Canada too, is full of people staring at their phones, while sitting with friends having dinner, talking with friends on the couch, trying to play D&D. Damn frustrating. I vent my frustration by checking the Dope on my phone. 
Visited Guangzhou a couple of years ago. City of about 14 million people. Seven million of them were on their phones texting…to the other seven million.
Depending upon the user, it could be a way to expand the participants at an event. For my daughter’s 15th birthday, we had 18 people attend physically, but an additional 12 girls were participating via Snapchat conversations and stories. This sort of behavior is common, and while it can be odd to see a bunch of kids burst out laughing at the same time for no “apparent” reason, I don’t necessarily think this is the end of civilization or even of polite society.
Observing my daughter, there is a massive difference in the way she uses her phone and the way I do. For example, she doesn’t use the “phone” part at all, unless she needs to discuss, in depth, a homework problem. With her phone, she is always connected to her cloud of friends, 24/7, and they, her. Me? I use it more for 1-on-1 communications, not group chatting/snapchatting at all, and make far more phone calls in a week than she does in 2 months.