How the World Got Wired · The Phone in Your Pocket

A World Without Pockets That Hadn’t Become Computers

I want you to imagine, for a moment, what daily life was like for people your age in the year 2005, two years before the iPhone came out.

In 2005, you woke up in a house. You walked downstairs. If your family was lucky, there was a computer in a room somewhere, on a desk, plugged into the wall. The internet lived in that one room. If you wanted to read about something, you walked to the computer. If you wanted to send a message, you walked to the computer. When you left the house — to go to school, to play with friends, to go on a trip — the internet stayed home.

You knew, when you were not at home, only the things you remembered or the things in your immediate physical surroundings. You got lost sometimes. You had to ask people for directions. When you were waiting at a doctor’s office, you sat and looked at the walls, or read whatever magazine happened to be there. You were sometimes bored. You could not, when you wondered what year a movie came out, find out. You could not, when you wanted to hear a particular song, hear it.

If you wanted to tell a friend something, in 2005, and you were not at home, you had to find a way to tell them in person or wait until you got home. People made plans by phone, the night before. They showed up at coffee shops at six p.m. because they had said they would, not because they had texted updates. People got lost on trips and had to stop and ask for directions. People sat on park benches and just sat there.

I am not saying this was better. I am also not saying it was worse. I am saying it was different. The kind of difference that, if you have always lived with a phone in your pocket, is genuinely hard to imagine.

In June of 2007, the iPhone went on sale. By 2010, smartphones were everywhere. By 2015, almost every adult in a wealthy country had one. By 2020, almost every kid did too. The change happened with such speed that older people had a hard time keeping track of it. Most of the things you take for granted about how life works today did not exist when your parents were the age you are now.

All 24 chapters of How the World Got Wired · Library · All courses