Cell Phones - Their Changing Role

Once placed into the market as portable telephones, the ubiquitous cell phone has become so much more. From that modest beginning, it has become a tool that can be used for messaging, paying for restaurant meals and bringing down entire governments.

The latter has been seen in recent weeks throughout the Middle East. It appears that cell phones are the new voting poll - the harbinger of democracy.

The power of texting and messaging through social media, such as Twitter and Facebook resident on cell phones, has been demonstrated before, albeit in more modest tones. For example, it was said to have played a large role in Obama's victory in the presidential race. Indeed, Obama was perhaps the first real digital politician.

There now is little doubt that cell phone texting and messaging can capture and motivate the will of the masses. Such has been the cell phone's rise to power.

One of the features of cell phones that was first introduced as a novelty was the camera. The power that this small innovation would assume was foreseen by few people. However, a camera on a phone connected to the internet enables the user to snap a photo quickly, or even take a video, and post it on the internet in seconds for all to see. The power of this phenomenon has recently been seen in the Middle East uprisings, where graphic photos of the violence have been placed for all to see, putting the lie to the carefully scripted pronouncements of the governments currently (and now temporarily) in power.

The world has seldom seen such a powerful propagator of democracy. For a bit more, see this article.