I feel like a dinosaur whenever I use my simple LG flip phone.  I am surrounded by iPhones and Blackberries and the growing inability of anyone to have an eye to eye conversation for thirty seconds without checking their hi-tech appendage.

I do respect the technology, but I find the constant interruption and stream distracting and inefficient.  It breaks focus.

Still the change it is bringing is significant. In the August 22 edition of New Scientist  they note that users downloaded over 1.5 BILLION apps on the iPhone alone in the first year of the iPhone App Store.  Over 64,500 NEW apps were added in the first year and 169 non-gaming apps are loaded every DAY. 1/3 of the users say that “apps have changed my life”, and app users spend 22% less time at a computer.

Like so much new technology we wonder how we ever lived without it.  We no longer find a need and fill it; we discover what we can do and then do it.

It is a poor picture of progress to do more efficiently that which does not need to be done at all. But I cannot deny the seduction.

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