GSMA predictions- data will have overtaken voice by 2018

Kevin Bacon, EE advert

What’s wrong with good old fashioned face-to-face conversation? This was my reaction this morning when I read predictions that mobile data will have overtaken voice by 2018.

Mobile data is the transmission of  information between devices and includes texting, and a surge in this has created a recent new demand: it seems people just don’t want to indulge, or more likely, simply don’t have time for a man-to-man chat anymore.

The articles regarding this new prediction boast the benefits of mobile data connection including that of the developing world. Last time I checked their main concerns were clean water and cholera not texting and accessing the internet.

The unveiling of 4G in the UK late last year has supposedly left the world feeling more connected. Although with Kevin Bacon playing a one man game of word association on their adverts to prove this, I can’t help feeling an unfillable void where conversation used to be.

Quick and effortless, texting is undoubtedly a convenience the human race have become both reliant and dependent on. In fact, many have argued they would rather starve than go without their beloved mobile phone. Sad really.

In a world where this form of “communication” is branded as acceptable as a heart-to-heart chat, I ask whether we really understand what monster we are creating. A heartless generation who find it socially acceptable to spend a night in sharing their feelings with Facebook rather than with their friends… God help us.