I recently ran across a couple of posts dealing with the effects of the cellphone: Five Gadgets That Were Killed by the Cellphone and Seven (More) Gadgets Killed by the Cellphone.
The first five:
- The PDA
- The Camera
- The UMPC (ultra mobile PC)
- The Phone
- The MP3 Player
The next seven:
- The Pager
- The Wristwatch
- Pocket Calculator
- Alarm Clocks
- SatNav (stand alone GPD)
- Books
- Handheld Consoles
Some of these I definately agree with. I think we can all agree that with very minor exceptions the pager is dead. I personally quit wearing a wristwatch several years ago when I determined that it was not worth my time to get the battery replaced. Since then, I have encountered many others who reached the same conclusion.
Similarly, I know many people who use only a cellphone and no longer have a landline.
I supposed it depends on the type of phone that you have, however, I know that the calculation on my Treo can do more than any pocket calculator that I ever owned.
On the other hand, I think that, although the UMPC is dead, the concept is not. Netbooks are becoming more popular. In fact, Ross Kodner has declared that a netbook is now part of his perfect laptop equation.
I think the pager’s use is greatly diminished but it has some advantages over cell phones.
Battery life, since you aren’t making calls or other uses on the phone, is well beyond that of a cell phone. I used to chage my pager once a week.
For on call rotations, passing a pager is a lot easier than passing a cell phone or having calls go out to multiple cell phones. Also dont have the issue of a bad employee abusing a passed cell phone and making lots of calls or international calls (something I have seen with some consultants).
I have also had pagers work where cell have trouble.
I too notice many gadgets missing from lifestyle that have been replaced with one device. The next time you are at Woodman’s, stop in and say a surprise hello. We’d love to see you and the gang.
I still like to time myself while running/biking/swimming with watch timer.