It just suddenly occurred to me this morning that everybody (and I mean everybody) has got a cell phone (or mobile phone if you’re English or European). Not only that, but, a good portion of these people have got an iPhone. If they do not have an iPhone, they have some other form of touch screen phone that uses the Android operating system.
I do not have either an iPhone or an Android operated touch screen phone. But I do have a mobile phone, a BlackBerry if you must know (and if you follow my blog you do know because I did a post about it) and as I said in my previous post, it’s almost too much phone for me to handle.
But here’s the interesting (or possibly disturbing) bit. Did you know that when you take a picture with your iPhone and upload via Instagram that the picture is automatically “marked” with a location code? This code is a boon to stalkers, cyber and otherwise. In essence where you take your photos is where you are. Easy to track and find.
And after checking just now, I’ve learned that Android pictures that are uploaded to the net also have the location of the picture. I also found out that you can turn off the location code part of your pictures on both operating systems.
On another track, most phones have GPS capability. I know I’ve used mine to get directions from where I am at the time. Just another great little device that also allows anyone like say a stalker find out where you are; or more helpfully the police if you are lost or missing.
There are other ways for people to find out where you are though besides the location codes on your uploaded pictures; applications like foursquare, for example, allow you to Tweet where you are at that particular moment. If your stalker (sorry I mean friends) miss you at your current location they at least know that you frequent the place and have a good chance of catching you there (pun intended).
I seem to have a real “bug in my ear” about these modern-day communication devices that everyone seems to need. Oh and while I am on about the communication aspect of mobile phones, I’ll just mention how easy it is for a third-party to listen to your calls. I used the word party as a reference to the old “party” lines that the phone companies used in the old days. A party line meant you shared your landline with a group of other folks who could listen in on your phone calls, just like the mobile phone. Sorry, I know I’ve mentioned that twice now.
It’s no wonder that I feel like it is still 1984 and big brother is not only watching but the nosey bugger is listening as well. Modern technology is pretty great, but it is also intrusive. Not only that, but I am sure that the government likes being able to know where you are and what you are saying. Terrorist plots aside, these guys must know the best gossip about everyone who is someone.
The thing that amazes me more than the ability to find and listen to you while you have this mobile communication device on your body is the “about-face” on the “safety” of mobile phones.
A scant 10 years ago, scientists were warning about the “overuse” of mobile phones. They went on record stating that the things emitted too much radiation to be healthy (especially for the young and the elderly) and that they were basically cancerous tumours just waiting to happen. Not only that, but they were bad for your ears.
Now I don’t remember exactly but I am pretty sure the tumours were not ear related but brain related and all the information they trotted out was pretty scary. It was scary enough that I remember warning my then young daughter about using the thing too much.
But wait a minute; no one is talking about how hazardous the mobile phone is any longer. It seems that all those tumours and ear damage have disappeared. I could not figure out why until I had a major epiphany while writing this post.
People do not talk on their mobile phones nearly as much as they text on them.
Presumably that is why the scare mongering over the health threatening mobile phone has diminished. Not because the government want to keep tabs on us. (Even though we know that they really do) It is because that scant 10 years ago, the prophetic scientists could not know that texting would bypass talking on these “dangerous” devices.
I have yet to hear of one person who has gotten a life threatening tumour on their index finger from prolonged texting.
So the mobile phone continues to be a necessity for everyone over the age of 7? Presumably it is because I have seen children that young (and younger) talking on one and carrying it about; again one of the handier aspects of the GPS thing. I am sure that these young consumers even text on their mobiles, the spelling should not present a problem since texting does not require one to spell correctly.
Sorry, I really do need to wind this post up soon or it will cease being a pithy comment on mobile phones and their ubiquitous existence in today’s society and more of a paranoiac rant on stalkers and the government keeping tabs on the world’s citizens.
Besides, I need to get my Blackberry instruction book back out; I can’t seem to get foursquare to work on it properly and my Twitter has lost its link and my Facebook app won’t delete my updates. I also need to take a couple of pictures with my camera and sort out the video camera as well. And while I am at it, I may just type a new blog post on my WordPress application…
Related articles
- Smartphones To Become Largest Segment Of Mobile Phone Market In 2013 – HIS (misco.co.uk)
- Facebook Launches Messaging App for iPhone & Android [FIRST LOOK] (epicagear.com)
- Apple is the No. 2 mobile phone maker in the US. (forums.crackberry.com)
- Mobile phone use versus brain damage (willeke73.wordpress.com)
- iPhone Users Have the Highest Cell Phone Bills (iClarified.com)
Oddly enough, I don’t think you are alone there. I know some folks who do everything but cook their breakfast on their phones, but like you, I rarely use mine. I carry it every where just in case… 😀
I don’t use my phone for social stuff and haven’t got an iPhone or Android device (still a touchscreen Nokia). I mainly use it as my walkman and occasionally check my mail on it or text a bit, but I’m not someone who uses it a lot.
You can turn of location markers. It’s hard to find the menu, but if you call Blackberry tech support, they can tell you how. There’s a GPS in every cell phone which we all know because they are forever using them on TV cop shows to catch the criminal. I don’t know if you can turn off the whole GPS, but you CAN have it not mark your photos. Digital cameras also have GPS capability or at least most new ones have it. You can choose to use it or not. Many people like it because if you don’t remember where you took a picture you can look at the EXIF information and find out. I figure I should be able to remember and if not, oh well.
I know! Nigh on impossible. And I remember when trying to find a pay phone that actually took MONEY was practically impossible! lol Although with the state the world is currently in, are landlines even that safe? Just sayin’ Thanks for sharing Sherman! Cheers mate! 😀
Hey Mike, I work for the government and they tell me if I need to make a call about something confidential not to use my cell phone but to use a land line from somewhere other thatn the plant I’m in. They don’t want the company listening in on the call. Try finding a pay phone nowadays.