The World Of Multiple Devices
This is not an exaggeration. On a recent Sunday afternoon I was using not one, not two, not three, but four computers at the same time.
I wasn’t engaged in a 21st Century version of the movie war games. I was simply downloading an audio file from my digital recorder, saving a PowerPoint presentation to my thumb drive, listening to an iPad app called Pandora and texting my husband on my iPhone.
This is what my life has become. While the TV’s on, I’m typing on my laptop and balancing my iPhone on the arm rest of my coach. And chances are, you’re just like me.
Go Go Gadgets
I take solace in the fact that I’m not alone in being slowly surrounded by devices. The Pew Research Center’s October report entitled, “Americans and their Gadgets,” backs me up. To compile the report, Pew conducted telephone interviews of 3,000 Americans. The questions centered around whether the person being surveyed owned any of the following seven devices: cell phones, desktop computers, laptop computers, mp3 players, game consoles, e-book readers and tablet computers.
Not surprisingly, the cell phone came out the clear winner in this survey. Eighty-five percent of Americans own a cell phone. That’s pretty stunning penetration, if you think about it. What’s more impressive is the percentage of 18- to 29-year-olds who own cell phones: 96 percent.
The numbers from Pew on desktop and laptop computers are equally astounding. Seventy-six percent of Americans own one or the other.
What’s particularly interesting about the stats from Pew on desktops v. laptops is how desktops are losing out. Laptop ownership spiked between 2006 and 2010 while desktop ownership has waned.
And while the market penetration for tablet computers like the iPad is much smaller (just 4 percent), their rate of adoption is rapid. The rate is also much higher as household income increases. For example, one in 10 Americans with a household income of $75,000 or more has a tablet computer.
As far as ownership of multiple gadgets goes, more seems to be better. Nearly 80 percent of us own two or more of the seven devices listed. Gadget ownership seems to peak for people in the 45 to 54 age range, where the average number of devices owned increases to four.
While all these statistics are useful (if you had any doubts that we’re living in an electronic age, I assume those have been erased), the Pew survey didn’t ask the more important question, which is, “Are we better off?” Do these devices make use more efficient? Or will it just drive us mad?
When I had my four devices going at the same time, it wasn’t helping me do my job better. I was just in a rush. I had several annoying tasks that I needed to get done and I figured, since I have all these machines lying around, I must as well try to do them simultaneously.
Don’t get me wrong, I am still a big fan of technology. I love the fact that when my husband and I have a disagreement about some 80s television trivia question, we can settle the argument then and there with the help of our iPhones. That might actually be a pretty decent marketing campaign for Apple, or any of the other smartphone makers: Buy this phone. It will save your marriage.
With the rapid evolution of technology, we are blessed with information and entertainment at our fingertips. It’s a great opportunity to learn, and it’s a great opportunity for businesses. The danger, of course, is that we become overwhelmed by it all and begin to shut down. Or we plug in so intensely that we lose touch with reality — and our fellow human beings — altogether. I probably won't notice what happens, since I'll be too busy watching TV on my phone.
Got news for our Digital Diva column? E-mail Christina H. Davis at cdavis@wbjournal.com.
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