10,000 Years in Your Pocket: The Deep History of Your Mobile Device

We live in amazing times with amazing technology all around us. And mobile technology, delivered in iPhones and Android devices, is possibly the most amazing of all. While we designers, developers, and testers strive to make fantastic mobile apps and products, we often spend our efforts fixing the things that are wrong with the mobile experience. Taking a page from recent work in the field of positive psychology, James Dempsey wants us to pause and focus on the positive. Join James to appreciate the deep history of science, technology, and even religion that has led us from communicating with fire and smoke to these wonderful little devices that enhance—and frustrate—us in our daily living. Using calendars, language localization, and aluminum as examples, James tells stories of how we have progressed—and struggled—over the millennia to the time and place in which we can produce these amazing devices, reminding us that our technology challenges are not new. You’ll see the device in your pocket in a new light and, ideally, in a way that offers a positive sense of satisfaction and happiness rather than frustration and consternation.