So lately I've been binge watching "Breaking Bad" on Netflix. It's quite possibly my favorite TV series of all time, but I've noticed a curious fact while watching.
Everyone on the show has a flip phone...
So I thought about this for a second and I realized that not only do they have flip phones on this show but NO ONE texts each other. In fact, I am currently on the very last season of the 5 season blockbuster and so far there has been only one text message read in context to the plot and it was on Season 5 circa 2013. I then looked back at the air dates of each of the seasons and I started to understand the flip phone thing a bit better. The Pilot episode first aired in January 2008 and the series then progresses over the next 5 years to it's final episode that aired on Sept 29th 2013. The iPhone didn't launch till 2007 and it revolutionized the mobile device industry over the next few years.
So then I got to thinking...where are the "smart phones"on the show? Where are the iPhones and why aren't the cast constantly checking their emails and Facebook updates on their phones during the episodes? Why are they not texting each other incessantly like we all do now? I had to think about it. Not even in the later episodes dating 2011 and later, does the phone become a central part of the plot?
When did the "smart phone" revolution start? There's no question that we are now a mobile device driven society. Do you check your email on you cell phone? Do you use a social media site on your cell phone? If you answered yes to both of those questions then you are a living, breathing adult that functions in the world today. Even my dad, just this morning, texted me something important. So much a part of our everyday society today that 48% of all online sales come from a mobile device.
So I gotta ask again? When exactly did the smart phone revolution take over?
It may be a regional thing. I'm originally from Utah and had the same flip phone until 2010. When I got a new phone it wasn't text friendly nor smart at all but wasn't a flip. Finally in November 2013 I got a smart phone. Yes, I text a little and have Instagram, but I still don't use facebook or twitter. I prefer to speak with people directly and of course it usually takes a couple of years for us westerners to catch up with the rest of the world. I live in Houston now and so I have lots of friends who use texting more, but sitting in an office environment, I hear cell phones go off all day long. People down here really love to talk.
ReplyDeleteDon't know what the answer to your question is Candace. I and the wife still have non texting, non camera flip phones. I knew i would be better off in the age before there were analog anythings, much less this ever crushing, imposing digital day.
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