As technology advances does the trend change the people or do the people create the trends? How important is wireless connectivity for human beings? It seems that we are programmed to do less physical connections and more wireless connections and we are hard-wired to do so.
The case in point is the recent Bluetooth bungle and Apple’s iOS 8-8.2 (iPhone 4S/5/5C/5S/6/6+) that is causing problems with connections with in-car systems, since September.
AUTO Connected Car News received hundreds of comments from drivers who are frustrated and extremely furious when they upgrade their iPhone or buy a new iPhone 6/6+ and their phones no longer automatically connected to their in-vehicle systems. In fact, Apple’s iOS Bluetooth Bungle won the Edsel Yugo Award for Biggest Snafu in the TECH Cars Awards.
Bluetooth has only been available in cars for several years, yet now drivers have to use Bluetooth. The major complaint is that drivers don’t want to get into trouble due to driver distraction laws. I say the problem lies deeper and to the way people communicate, wirelessly to each other.
We communicate with our eyes, body and voice in person and we are communal animals. We like to do things without wires, wires hold us back, they are chains to limitations.
Back in the Baby Boom days before remote controls, my family sat in the “TV room” watching TV. Whoever sat near the TV was on the channel changing sofa. While we were reclined in inertia, we didn’t want to get up to change the channel. As the youngest, I was designated the channel changer. Of course physically it takes next to no energy to change a channel, however, in our family it became a big deal. Then came the age of the remote control, there are remotes for every thing now, music systems, TVs, air conditioners and lights. Once I lost the remote for my TV and I truly felt lost. I didn’t have a way to connect wirelessly with my TV!
Teenagers sat for hours holding a landline Princess phone to their ears while the cord tangled around them. In the eighties, came cordless phones which relieved the pain, some what. Then when the cell phone came around, we could talk any where we wanted without the pesky cord.
In the early days of the personal computers, there was a quagmire of cables coming in and out the CPU for printers, speakers, scanners, modems, phone lines and network connections. The wires became a monstrous tangle to deal with until Wi-Fi and Bluetooth came around.
As the Internet grew ubiquitous, people no longer wanted to be “tied down” to their desktops, smartphones began to displace computers for fact checking, movie ticket buying, maps and restaurant reviews.
With each new level of wireless freedom there becomes a dependence on the technology. Recently, my friends tried to hold a conversation without checking our smartphones and it was impossible. Imagine finding your friends at a concert or art show without smartphones…
Sometimes, I forget to charge my smartphone because it’s in my purse. I hear my internal voice saying “Darn, I have to charge my phone,” which feels like the feeling when I had to get off the sofa and change the channel. It is s-o-o-o much work. There are smartphones that charge wirelessly, but not through my purse, yet. We want everything to work without us working!
Once technology gives us something wireless, they can’t take it back. Even the smallest cheapest TV comes with a remote. It would seem ridiculous to have to hookup a wire to an iPad to read a book, it has to be portable and free.
The people who use Bluetooth with auto-connections (pairing) in their cars like their talking freedom. Now that Android Auto and Apple CarPlay require plugging in the phones, it seems like work….
I have the cutest puppy in the world and when we go for a walk, I have to put the leash on her, a minor connection. However, she thinks it’s a game and runs around the table.
“Come on we gotta’ go,” I say to her as she goes as far away from me as possible. After a few minutes I eventually grab her to connect the harness and leash and feel myself wishing for an auto-paired Bluetooth connection or a least a doggie remote control…
