The Ultimate Wireless Connection Having a smartphone in your pocket at any given moment is becoming almost as widespread of a practice

as carrying a wallet. In fact, to many people, it is more detrimental to leave the house without a smartphone than a credit card and a license. ppro!imately one billion smartphones are sold each year, and

that number is e!pected to double before "#$% &'a(arin). *ot only are more and more smartphones being purchased, the +constant feed of news and notes and nonsense,, is becoming addictive +to the point that twice as many people would pick their phone over their lunch if forced to choose., &TI-.) /bviously, we do not need a scientific study to prove that there are more people te!ting at the dinner table than there were $# years ago. Throughout the course of our days we see smartphones being used everywhere0 restaurants, worship services, and even while driving &1it2gerald). 3eeing someone in smartphones position4neck hunched over, thumbs twiddling4is totally standard. What is it about smartphones that gives it an addictive culture5 6eople believe that smartphones and their apps possess a convenience factor, an entertainment necessity, and most of all, keep the world at the palm of their hands &Wiley). With all of these changes is the way we connect, we must ask ourselves, are they (ustified5 The only way to figure this would be to analy2e our smartphones7 communication features. 8et us start off with one of the ma(or connection capabilities of smartphones0 963 apps such as 9oogle -aps and -ap:uest. /bviously, these apps have proven themselves of being able to efficiently get us

from place to place; only needing is a cellular connection. 1or instance, let7s say <im is driving from /hio to 1lorida and accidentally gets off at the wrong freeway e!it. His mistake leads him into a small town in Tennessee with limited road signs. In order to get back on his route, all <im does is type in his 1lorida hotel7s address in the -ap:uest app and follows the highlighted path. s a result, he

does not run into any issues and makes it back onto the highway in about $= minutes. Understandably, people feel that smartphones are a great way to stay connected with others, especially for friends separated by great distances. I have noticed this to be true, especially once I started college at /hio 3tate and while my friends ventured all over the country. To illustrate, one of my closest friends since kindergarten goes to >artmouth College and spent her sophomore winter ?uarter studying in 'arcelona. While she is at >artmouth it is sometimes tough to stay in contact between her being an athlete and both of us having schoolwork, but we usually te!t each other a few times a week. /nce she went to 3pain, the ability to te!t back and forth was pretty much impossible. The only way I was able to stay updated on her travels was through looking through 1acebook posts and Instagrams. 8ikewise, another close friend of mine from high school goes to school in 1lorida and spends most of her breaks there. With myself being in /hio year@ round, there are limited opportunities to be together in person. 3imilar to my friend at >artmouth, our communication is mostly via te!t and other social media forms, and then with phone calls almost every day.

Taking these factors into consideration, smartphones surely provide ways to connect both ?uickly and reliably. 3martphones and their apps provide us with connections to the distant world, whether it is with a 963 satellite or a friend in another state. If we take a look at the smartphone@less alternatives to the above engagements, what would they be like5 When reviewing the e!ample of <im driving to 1lorida, we should take a look at his counterpart, 3u2ie. 3u2ie, driving in a separate car, is on the same route as <im and makes the same mistake of getting off at the wrong Tennessee e!it. When 3u2ie looks to her phone to use -ap:uest, she notices that she is not getting a cellular connection like <im had. 3ince she is not receiving any signal, she chooses to get out of the car and ask the storeowner at an anti?ue shop for directions to the interstate. The owner writes down the route, and the two have an in@depth conversation about the town7s history dating back to the civil war. 3u2ie is so moved by the town7s past that she even buys an anti?ue lamp. fter leaving the store, 3u2ie carefully observes the town7s landmarks to

make sure that she makes all of the correct turns. 'y only having the owner7s written directions, 3u2ie gets to actually view the town and all its charm. The drive took slightly longer than <im7s, but she became so engaged with the town7s layout that she could even redo the route straight from memory. When my friend at >artmouth returned from 3pain, instead of going straight back to school, she spent a week with her parents in Cleveland. /ne of those nights, serendipitously, I ended up being in Cleveland as well as a last minute decision. I went to her house that evening and was so e!cited to hear

about her three@month adventure in .urope. 1rom being able to speak face@to@ face, her social media posts came to life; her posts were personified through her little details and side stories. 8istening to her tell me about her trip, I learned why some of her photos of ordinary images in fact had e!traordinary meanings behind them. nd of course, the funny, notable stories she chose to tell me as her close

friend are different than what she would tell her grandparents, or even the entire Internet for that matter. 6ictures may be worth a thousand words, and by spending three hours with my friend I was able to learn what these thousand words are. s for my friend in 1lorida, since the summer after we graduated high school we really have not spent more than a few days at a time in the same place. This past spring break, instead of going on a trip with friends from school, I decided that I would visit her for the week at the University of 1lorida. /ver the past year and a half, I have only heard stories from her about her friends and what her life is like at school. fter spending a week with her, I was truly able to

put faces to the names I have heard about for what seemed like forever. 1or so long I felt detached from what her life is like in 1lorida, but once I got to see it for myself I got a better understanding of everything her stories have entailed. When we take apart all of the capabilities smartphones offer and compare them to what the task would be like without one of these devices, is this new technology wave really the most efficient, beneficial form of connection5 In this case, the /!ford .nglish >ictionary would define +connect, as, +to state or establish relationship with,. The key word in this definition is +relationship,.

When it comes to connecting through smartphones, we do not get a sense of relationship that we would normally receive through face@to@face interaction. When <im is driving with his map application, he reaches his destination yet loses a sense of (ourney. His drive through the small town consists of nothing more than mindlessly following a line on a screen. /n the other hand, 3u2ie not only establishes a relationship with a local, but with the town itself. 1rom her purchasing a native anti?ue and actually observing the town, she gains memories both tangible and intangible. <im7s i6hone may seem to have been a lu!ury, but that is only if you would find 3u2ie7s overall e!perience less valuable. This may seem to be a cookie cutter scenario, but there is truth behind it in that we all know what is like to follow the blue line from place to place versus actually knowing what is right outside our windows. The value behind face@to@face connection increases even more when it comes to communicating with others. 'y getting to actually speak to my friend about her trip to 3pain, I received a cornucopia of stories tailored to what would most interest me. Through listening to her tell me these stories I was able to ask her ?uestions and receive immediate feedback, and even determine if studying abroad is something that I would like to do in the future. .ven though I did not go on her trip with her, hearing her talk about it in a way that relates to me made me feel as if I was tied to the trip as well. 6rior to spending my spring break in 1lorida, I did not have much insight into my other friend7s life, which was almost upsetting to me, as she is one of my closest companions. fter getting to e!perience what college was like for her, it

felt great to be able to establish a relationship with her friends that she always talks of so highly. When I got on my plane home and went to send her a te!t, I noticed that I had not sent her any messages since my plane landed 1lorida the previous week. This seven@day gap in our te!ting thread, which is normally (am@ packed with messages, was in actually the fullest it has ever been, for it was replaced with ama2ing memories that we can look back at for the rest of our lives. 3o many people agree with me that face@to@face interaction is more beneficial in the long run, but far too often people are taking it for granted. There are te!t messages being sent at dinner tables, Twitter is being refreshed in classrooms, and Instagrams are gaining likes during birthday parties. 9iven that face@to@face interaction does have its flaws, we cannot take advantage of it when it does occur, especially if it is with a friend we have not seen in a long time. When getting together with an old friend we are embraced by the greatest form of connection, one that lacks both verbal and written communication. This connection is so impactful you can physically feel it, for it is a magnet attracting two souls, radiating energy so euphoric you are completely blindsided not only from your bu22ing i6hone, but from any other problem in the world. We are under the illusion that it is the smartphone that is the biggest link between individuals and the rest of the world. We need to take a look at the macro level of what is the biggest connection of all. Undeniably, face@to@face interaction is the only form of communication whose umbrella shelters every

living person on earth. There e!ists neither a social media app nor a mobile device that more people can access than face@to@face communication. We do not need smartphones to know what is going on in the world, for the world is happening right before our very eyes. We can look at a small screen to see what is going on in Hong Aong, but only as long as we do not forget to take a moment to look up. When we are fully engaged in our smartphones, we are stuck underwater. If we ignore our need for respiration, we will drown in its endless feeds. /ur smartphones can free2e, they can run out battery, and even lose reception, but nothing can possibly put the world itself at a pause. /ur physical interaction with the surrounding world is the only form of communication that can be done with or without words and never denies us access, leaving it to be the greatest wireless connection in the world.