Mobile Phone Dependency
Copyright © May 11, 2022 by Robert Wayne Atkins, P.E.
All Rights Reserved.
Introduction
At the current time in the 21st century people all around the world use their mobile phones for some, or for most, of the following activities almost every day:
- Communication: To instantly communicate with family, friends, and other people.
- Online Orders: To place orders for stuff to be delivered to their homes.
- Weather: To get advance notice of how the weather may change during the next few days.
- News: Some people read the news stories reported by the mass media. But other people get their news from websites that they believe are more objective, and that are less biased in how they report a news event, and that include a variety of news events that are completely ignored by all the mass media news networks.
- Pictures: Most people now take high-quality digital pictures using their mobile phone.
- Calculator: Most people use their mobile phone when they need to do some math.
- Flashlight: Most people use the flashlight app on their mobile phone when they need some light.
- Time of Day: Most people keep track of time by looking at the time display on their mobile phone. The next time you are in a store or other area, look at the wrists of the people you see and you will probably not see very many people who are wearing a wristwatch. However, most families still have at least one battery-operated clock somewhere in their home.
- Calendar: Most people keep track of their appointments and the birthdays of their friends and family on their mobile phone.
- Contacts: Most people keep track of the phone numbers and email addresses of their friends and family on their mobile phone. If you ask someone for the phone number of one of their close family members then they will usually have to consult their mobile phone to answer your question.
- Music: Most people have their favorite music downloaded onto their phone. Some people have also subscribed to a special music channel.
- Digital Games: Most people play one or more digital games on their mobile phone when they have a little spare time.
- Books and Movies: Many people have digital books, or digital movies, either downloaded onto their phones or they are connected to a website where they can live stream books and movies onto their phone.
- Travel: Many people use their phones to tell them how to get from one place to another place. Some of these people can read a conventional map but some of these people do not know how to read an "old fashioned paper map."
- Other Apps: The number of other apps that can be downloaded onto a mobile phone is astronomical.
If people in a specific area, or if people all around the world, could not use their mobile phones because there was no electricity to charge their phones, or if the cell phone towers were not working for some reason, or if the cell phone signals were being intentionally jammed for some reason, then how would most people respond?
How would you respond if your mobile phone suddenly stopped working?
The purpose of this article is to offer a few suggestions on some contingency plans that you might wish to consider.
Discussion
There are a lot of different things that could interfere with the way you normally use your mobile phone.
Scenario One
Let's begin by assuming that most of the functions on your mobile phone still work, but something has happened and you cannot call or text anyone, and you cannot access any website or download any information. Let's also assume that the problem is impacting everyone's phone in your area the same way and therefore you know the problem is not your phone and that the problem is something else.
The first two things that you would probably want to know are the following:
- What is causing this problem?
- How long before this problem is going to be fixed?
If you have access to a radio or to a television then you will probably listen to a news broadcast to see what is being reported. If you discover that the problem is a technical issue that only impacts mobile phones, and that the problem is currently being worked on, and that the problem should be fixed in just a few hours, then you will probably patiently wait until things return to normal.
Scenario Two
Suppose you discover that the cell phone signals are being intentionally disrupted and that nobody knows how the signals are being jammed, and nobody knows how to resolve the problem, and nobody can even estimate how long the problem will last. In this situation, what would you do?
Scenario Three
Let's extend the problem and let's assume that all radio and television transmissions are also being jammed. And you can't receive any type of broadcast on your radio or television. This would definitely be a more serious problem. In this situation, what would you do?
If all the different types of signals are disrupted then what impact will this have on GPS systems, and on the online terminals that process debit and credit card payments, and on the restocking orders of companies everywhere?
Very few families still have a hard-wired phone in their home that they could use. However, many businesses and schools still have hard-wired phones that may work depending on the type of phone system that they have. This would allow a person to call another person that also has access to a hard-wired phone, such as someone who is at work at another company somewhere. But it would not allow someone to call a person who only has access to a mobile phone.
If this should happen and if you have given this specific problem a little thought ahead of time, then you will probably not waste your time being upset about the problem. Instead you should be ready to take some type of immediate action that could significantly benefit your entire family. For example, if you have discussed this potential problem with your entire family in advance, and all of you had agreed to meet somewhere, such as your home, then all your family members could immediately leave work and head to your home. If you have children in school then you could withdraw your children from school early and bring them home with you. (Note: Please remember that all the people who remained at work because their boss told them that they had to, perished when the two New York Trade Center Towers burned to the ground.) After your entire family has arrived home then you could safely wait inside your home until you find out how this problem is going to impact your area (or the world) and hopefully you will be able to avoid the chaos and rioting that this problem may cause.
Scenario Four
Let's assume that some type of virus has been digitally transmitted to everyone's mobile phone over the past few weeks, and that the virus has been set to automatically activate on a specific day at a specific time, and that the virus has just now disabled everyone's mobile phone. And nobody knows why their phone isn't working. And the radio and television news media are reporting that nobody knows if the virus can somehow be removed, or if everyone's mobile phone has been permanently deactivated. What would you do?
If this should happen then a lot of other very bad things will probably begin to happen very quickly. Hopefully you and your entire family will immediately go home and you can wait safely inside your home where you can make plans on what you will do next.
Some Possible Strategies for the Above Scenarios
Battery Operated Portable Radio: If the radio stations are still broadcasting, and if you have a battery operated portable radio then you would be able to remain current about what is happening in your area, and in your nation, and around the world. If you have a world band shortwave portable radio then you could listen to broadcasts from other nations and this would provide you with a more balanced appraisal of what is happening inside your own country and in the rest of the world. If you get a radio with SSB (Single Side Band) (such as the Tecsun PL-660) then you can listen to Amature Radio (HAM Radio) frequencies from nearby and from far away, including countries across the ocean. (Note: A world band shortwave radio is only "listening" to broadcasts and it is not transmitting anything so it would not reveal your location to anyone.) (Note: If you have a radio in your vehicle then you could listen to the radio in your car or truck. However, it would be much more convenient if you had a portable radio that you could use inside your home so that you didn't have to sit outside in your car.)
Battery Operated Flashlight: If electricity becomes unreliable then a flashlight would be extremely useful when it gets dark. One or more battery operated flashlights or battery operated lanterns could help your entire family avoid tripping over something and becoming injured. Getting injured during a hard times event would significantly reduce your potential options.
Solar Battery Charger and Rechargeable Batteries: If the sun is still shining on a regular basis, then you will be able to recharge your special batteries if you had a solar battery charger for AA and AAA rechargeable batteries, such as the Sunway Solar AA and AAA Rechargeable Batteries Charger shown in the picture on the right.
Photos Saved on a USB Device: If you previously transferred a copy of your digital pictures onto a USB device then you would have access to those pictures on any device that was compatible with your USB device. In addition to saving all your photos on a USB device, it would probably also be a good idea to print a hard copy of your most precious pictures.
Hard-Wired Cable Services: Cable services may still work if the signal is transmitted over a cable from its origin to its destination and the signal is not transmitted through the air. If you have a television connected to a cable then you may still be able to receive cable channels. If you have Wi-Fi delivered by cable to your home, and if you are able to connect one or more of your devices with a cable directly to your Wi-Fi unit, then you may be able to access the internet (if the internet is still working).
Emergency Food and Water: If you have a reasonable emergency food supply in your home then you will have options that most other people won't have.
An Almost Full Tank of Gas: If you always fill your gas tank when your gas gauge shows that your tank is half-empty, then you would probably have enough gas to get home. And after you got home then you would probably still have enough gas to travel somewhere else if that option became your best choice. This could work if you will fill your gas tank before you arrive at work and you do not wait to fill your gas tank until the end of the day when it is time to return home.
Conclusion
At the current time any of the above scenarios could happen in the not too distant future.
What strategies have you already implemented to reduce the impact of the above scenarios on your family?
What strategies do you plan to implement very soon?
May God Bless,
Grandpappy.
Grandpappy's e-mail address is: RobertWayneAtkins@hotmail.com