Smartphones, Tablets, eBooks, and TVs: The Morphing of Computing

Oct 26, 2011 by Linda Anderson

Is the PC dead?

Unless you’ve been living on Jupiter, you probably noticed our society’s technological development has been accelerating at the speed of light since the turn of the century. Now, our knowledge of personal technology not only incorporates the use of desktop and notebook computers, but also the myriad of interactive computing devices – tablets, smartphones, eBook readers, even TVs – that connect to the Internet and with each other.

To emphasize just how fast are things are changing, here are some interesting facts from a recently released study by comScore related to our ever-growing digital usage:

Non-computer Internet traffic, which includes smartphones and tablets, accounts for almost 7 percent of all digital traffic

Smartphones are responsible for approximately two-thirds of non-computer digital traffic

iPads account for approximately 97 percent of tablet connectivity

And this bit of information from the New York Times:

PC sales are slumping, with two of the three U.S. PC makers reporting significant losses; Apple, however, grew 16 percent in the 2nd quarter of 2011

Because of those facts, I have a difficult time deciding what to focus on when writing my Tech Tip article. Do I provide the majority of my tips about PCs, or will we soon see its death? It’s difficult enough that in providing PC tech tips I also need to include how to do the same procedures on a Mac (especially given the fact that they’re becoming a more popular computing choice). But now I need to understand how technology users are trying to manage their life’s details or entertainment choices on more than one device, and the most efficient way to do all of it.

One thing is as sure as the sun shines: social media applications are driving the rapid increase in usage because they provide us with virtual gathering places and, more importantly, opportunities to share information, knowledge, experiences, self-expression, and insight. The benefits (and sometimes, sadly, drawbacks) of becoming engaged in these virtual opportunities are endless. And we’ll continue to enhance our digital connectivity in ways that make engaging in our virtual societies easier and more accessible.

Knowing all this, I realize I’ll never run out of topics to write about.