A necessity is described as something indispensable to human life. Over the last few decades, with the advancement of technology, has the meaning of the word necessity changed to keep up with an ever advancing world?
Food, water, air and shelter. These things are essential to human life and so as a result they are and will always be considered as a necessity. When you consider things like clothes, shoes, credit/debit cards and means of transportation, because of the way they have had a positive effect on life in general, can these be considered as necessities? Most will argue that these items are necessities because they are used on such a large scale by so many different people and I agree with them. Surely then, if these are necessities, then in the same sense of the word mobile phones and the internet especially can also be considered as necessities. ‘A just-released global survey found that one out of three college students and professionals under 30 years old believes the Internet is a fundamental resource for the human race, just as important as air, water, food, and shelter.’ (Gillis, 2011). This fact shows the importance that young people have put on the internet in todays day and age. ‘Case in point—more than half of the respondents (55 percent college / 62 percent employees) said they could not live without the Internet and cite it as an “integral part of their lives.’ (Gillis, 2011)
When products are made, they are advertised as something that we need in order to enhance our lives. Lets take Apple for example, I myself have been brainwashed into believing that I need my iPhone, MacBook Pro, iMac and Apple Watch. Maybe not the Apple Watch but certainly the others. On a day to day, you probably won't find me without my iPhone on me and at most times even my MacBook Pro. I once heard a kid no older than 15 say 'I will die if I don't get my phone back soon.’ This lead me to wonder; at what stage did cell phones become such a major part of our lives that we started to depend on them as much as food and water?
Hamza Davis said “Cell Phones emerged as an apparatus of luxury, but presently it plays a much bigger and considerable role,” Davis here states the point that when cell phones were first imagined they were thought of as a luxury item that it was used to show a symbol of wealth but as time has gone on it has started to play a much bigger role in our lives. This has definitely been enhanced by consumerism. We as designers are preying on the interests of consumers. If you look at the phone market at the moment, there is a phone for everyone. All the way from the no frills Nokia 3310 to the highly advanced Samsung S7 Edge. This is represented buy the huge gap in costs for phones. “Once the cellphones were common and affordable, they became a necessity” (Klemens, 2010). He argues in his book ‘The Cellphone: The History and Technology of the Gadget That Changed the World’ that cellphones became necessities when they became readily available to everyone due to the fact that we became accustomed to their capabilities.
We are living in an era where not being online or having access to internet connection is seen as a massive disadvantage. ‘As of December 2015 there were 3.26 billion people connected to the internet and it is estimated that more than 1 billion people have bought products online.’ (Stevens, 2016). This number is only set to rise as it is estimated that every year the percentage of internet users rises by about ‘0.4% of the population.’ (Internetworldstats.com, 2017). I believe this has started an age where we are all guilty of doing what I call Signal hunting. This is when you go somewhere without service and insist on checking your phone every 5-10 minutes to see if by some miracle, you have been blessed by that single bar of life that will give you access to the rest of the world. Even the hated 'GPRS' is better than nothing. Signal hunting is also when you go to a new or unknown place and you find yourself asking around for the WiFi code before you sit down. This is normally because you either don't have any remaining data, don't want to use your own treasured data, or the dreaded 'E' has appeared in the top left hand corner of your screen. When did we become people that panic when we haven't had signal for more than a few hours? The argument is that in the same way clothes and means of transportation have had a positive effect on human life, phones and the internet have had an equally important effect on human life. As a result people would describe clothing and means of transport as a necessity surely then a phone should also be described a necessity.
I would agree that although it is nice that I can have a three way call with a friend in Perth, Australia and a friend in the Jauja Province of Peru; is it worth the fact that most people would rather look at their phones and text their friends at dinner rather than have a face to face conversation with their parents sitting opposite them? ‘Two-thirds of the college students said they would pick Internet access instead of a car if forced to choose, while 40 percent said the Internet is more important to them than dating, going out with friends, or listening to music.’ (Gillis, 2011). I think this statement shows my point exactly. How have we become a society where 40 percent of college students would much rather have internet connection than be involved in meaningful social interactions with their friends? In my opinion, when we start to value a product or service more than we value one another and social interactions is when we need to start considering that maybe somewhere we have gone too far.
I would also argue the fact that the introduction of mobile phones and internet on the go has taken away a lot of the excitement of life. I remember when I used to argue about really silly things with my sister like; wether or not Danny Zuko was the name of the guy who played the Karate Kid or when we were in the middle of nowhere with no signal and we had a 40 minute discussion if the most demanded British take away was Chinese or Indian and why the other was wrong. But now these sort of silly arguments are lost because about 5 minutes into them, we just look up the answer on google or pose a question to an “intelligent assistant’, Siri. Another thing that people do now is googling everything you need to know about someone before a date so know you aren't going to meet a serial killer. Fair enough in reality that is probably a good thing, but where has the excitement gone? This is my point, although mobile phones have made life easier for us on a day to day basis and the internet is arguably the best thing ever invented but still are these two more important to us than human interaction?
‘There are roughly 4 billion people that do not have internet connectivity in the world. This means that over half of the world’s population is missing out on the life-changing benefits of connectivity, from financial services to health and education’ (Luxton, 2016). Although they do not have the luxury of the internet that we do that doesn't mean their lives are any worse than ours are.
Being from Nigeria, a country where a lot of people are living without internet access, I am very lucky in that I have grown up surrounded by people from different walks of life. I can tell you that those without internet are equally as happy and maybe even happier than most of the western world. The world happiness report shows that between 2005 - 2007 and 2010 - 2012, less developed continents showed on increase in happiness while North America and Western Europe showed no change or a decrease in happiness even though they had a much bigger increase in technology. This might be due to the fact that they all have a much closer bond to one another and actually still enjoy the luxury of one another’s company. They might not understand most things that we do in the western world but I can guarantee most of them would not sacrifice the bonds they share with one another for what might appear to be an easier lifestyle with technology. Although to us the internet is seen as something we cannot live without to them it is seen a luxury item that they do not need.
After all of this would you still consider Mobile Phones and the Internet to be necessities? In the process of writing this I have picked up my phone about 30 times to text my friends around London and also to make a long distance phone call to my mother in Nigeria. I have used the internet to look up sources for this essay and also to catch up on what is going in the world and what is going on in my friends life. I have also talked to the complete stranger opposite me about the iPhone 8 and the rumours surrounding it and whether or not I am going to purchase it as soon as it comes out. All these things have been nice to be able to do but still to me the most meaningful interaction was having a conversation with this complete stranger opposite me in a coffee shop that I'm probably never going to see again.
This is my point, even though I can talk to anyone anywhere in the world whenever I want, I still find the most rewarding interaction to be a face to face with this random person I'm never going to see again. I still believe that mobile phones haven't reached necessity level quite yet because I can live without it even if I don't want to. The internet on the other hand is a bit tougher to consider. This is because by the definition of the word necessity, something indispensable to human life, the internet is not a necessity. But I know I would have found life a lot harder without it and I wouldn't be where I am today without it. So therefore it is indispensable to mine. As a result I would say to me it is a necessity but it might not be to others in a different situation.