HCI's impact on Society

TASK 1 (P1)
How has HCI impacted society?
In today's day and age its become completely normal for people to walk up the street tapping away at a smart phone texting, checking Facebook or browsing their favourite shopping site to buy the bag or shirt they've wanted. My parents even joke about me and my friends, how we cant have a conversation without checking our phones once or twice. Phones and the Internet hasn't only changed how we act around people, its even changed our language. Many a time I've told a joke and people have gone LOL instead of actually laughing!

Google Nexus-One, using google

Mobile devices has allowed us to take the luxury of our homes (MP3 players, portable game devices) out into the world, it would be weird if you saw someone sitting in the park with a PS3 set up playing a game of Call Of Duty, but its acceptable to have a DS or a PSP and tap a away at the screen and buttons whilst sitting in a café. Not only have mobile devices allowed the luxuries of our homes but they have allowed us to always have a connection to the rest of the world, no longer will you need to take your friend out for a coffee, you could potentially sit in two different parts of the world using your phone to video call over a cuppa thanks to mobile internet, the internet used to be one of the many luxuries of home that's now portable. To top it off you probably wont need a mobile internet connection, with cafés offering broadband you can just take your laptop with you and view your emails on a nice computer screen.
In this current period of time being able to connect is the biggest thing on everyone's mind, a large portion of today's society rely on the ability, to connect anywhere, on anything!

(image from-http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pixies/2011/4/21/1303426337083/Nexus-One-smartphone-007.jpg)