25 Years of Cell Phones: Texting a Popular Sport | NDR.de

25 years ago, no one doubted how a cell phone would affect our daily life. Before that, there were car phones and cell phones that you can carry in a bag, but the cell phone as we know it today has only been around since the summer of 1992. Much has changed since then.

The start: half a kilo

The Motorola International 3200, called the Bone, was the first true cell phone. Its height is 33 cm and its weight is half a kilo. It didn’t fit in your pocket yet, but it was the first mobile phone to have the battery and all the technology in a phone. This was made possible by the introduction of D1 and D2 interconnected networks 25 years ago. Batteries became smaller because new devices needed only weak transmission power. At that time, Germany was a pioneer in technology.

Since then, the cell phone has changed our society, says young researcher Peter Martin Thomas of the Sinus Academy: “What has changed the most is that children and teens can no longer be monitored by their parents. This means that when young people travel, their parents can always reach them. Via a mobile phone.We often have a picture that young people cannot give up on a mobile phone.From my observation I often have an image that parents cannot abandon their children and they can use a mobile phone when they are in the school camp, wanting to keep them under control or on Least keep in touch. “

Love by SMS

The first changes come quickly. SMS was introduced three years after the introduction of D-Netze: Text messaging is developing into a truly national sport. Since only 160 characters are allowed, abbreviations that are usually only understandable by certain groups, such as LOL, are developed to laugh out loud, which is common among young people. Older people then prove that one can also end love relationships via SMS.

Then the volume rises: your personal ringing tone. Since the start of the new millennium, ringtones can be purchased and installed on your cell phone. Soon many were disturbed by the noise that cell phones were banned in some places.

With the camera came narcissism

And then – ten years ago – came the iPhone from Apple. Small programs, or so-called applications, allow to communicate over the Internet. Pictures can be sent and videos can be viewed on the screen. Other mobile phone providers will soon do the same.

The result: social networks are flooded with selfies. A new form of falling in love, according to cyber psychologist Katarina Katzer: We have seen in studies since 2000 that narcissism has increased dramatically. The capacity for digital empathy also suffers greatly. From this you can actually see that the focus on us, apart from the social solidarity of society, plays a major role. “

But for many young people, the dependence on the cell phone goes too far. Sie fühlen sich unwohl, sagt der Jugendforscher Peter Martin Thomas: “Wenn wir das vergleichen mit unserer ersten Studie, dann beobachten wir erste Anzeichen einer Undgestgest. Das ist auf der Geräteebene miten. es ist die Ebene, dass man sich mal wünschen würde, ohne soziale Medien zu sein. Also mal abzuschalten, sich zu treffen mit Freunden und keiner hat das Handy an. Aber das ist gar nicht einfach, weil man ja aucher Angst hat etwas zu miss.”