Come November 11, between 1,000 and 2,000 Bhutanese citizens will take yet another turn in their lives, with many more following in the future. Other societies have already been through it but that will not reduce the impact of the mobile telephone (cell phone) on our society as distance and time take on new meaning.
The cell phone is likely to bring about quite profound changes, more than we anticipate. While most adults see it as an additional convenience today, it has much more implications for the youth. It is not a mere telephone any more. .
For the ICT-savvy society, the mobile is already a strong influence on people's lives. Apart form being a voice and text mail system it is a watch, a camera, a video game. Doctors are checking the laboratory results of their patients on the mobile by connecting them directly to laboratories, people are reading or listening to the news and will soon be watching television on it. .
In places like the U.S., Europe, Singapore, and Japan they are developing software so that the mobile can direct motorists to car parks with empty lots and collect domestic service bills. The mobile, because of its popularity, is dominating the advertising world both as the content and as a medium for advertising. An uncomfortable realisation in the developed countries is the possibility now that any individual who carries a mobile can be tracked down electronically wherever he or she is. .
With the popularity of the EMS system, the mobile has changed language. For example the new electronic communication system has made most people write and talk in syllables and shortened speech. In fact, the English language has already gone through several generations of change because of technology. In some American schools children are known to send more than 1,000 EMS messages a month. .
The concept is that technology now gives people, particularly youth, the freedom to do several things at one time.
