Smartphones And Globalization

I don't know why but I sometimes intensely examine the appearance of this device we call a smartphone and wonder how the world came to fit into our pocket.

Of course, the size of smartphones nowadays are bigger than our pocket. This hasn't increased much over the years.

But in the early days of the smartphone era, they fitted well and were unnoticeable to unsuspecting onlookers.

I view a smartphone as the coming together of a number of devices such as a camera, computer and gaming console.

However, one could say that it is a mini computer because it resembles a computer more than a camera or gaming console. One of its unique selling points is its portability.

Unlike computers, it can be carried with us wherever we choose to go. This means it can go wherever we go and by extension capture whatever we see.

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Globalization As A Concept

The ideal behind globalism is to transcend borders and allow for a global cooperation amongst nations. Globalization is the process of achieving this ideal.

According to Leoglossary, globalization is 'the spreading of the flow of financial products, goods, technology, jobs, and information around the world.'

Instead of the flow confined in a particular geographical area, it encompasses the globe. A primary effect of globalization is the shrinking of distance and the barriers it has created.

One doesn't have to wait for a week to receive a good or know what's happening on the other side of the world. This created an interconnectedness and interdependence within nations which can be leveraged to achieve greater things.

Arguably the two most significant and negative aspects of globalization is job loss and heighten inequality.

Companies are good at leveraging the open borders to move jobs overseas in order to cut cost and reallocate their budget.

Robert Kiyosaki in his Rich Dad Poor Dad series alluded to a friend of his who had been working for a national company that turned multinational and moved their production overseas. A good number of people including his friend were laid off from work in the process.

Globalization has come a long way since then, some believe it started since the industrial revolution in which many work processes where systemized and produced at scale.

Now we have the internet, smartphones, blockchain and other inventions. Each contributing to the process of globalization, making it a possibility.

In regards to inequality, I'll say the metric of measurement has changed. It's a global competition with global standards. There are many forms of inequality but the one that we tend to focus on is income and wealth inequality. Despite the access to opportunities and many free resources, the gap between the haves and have nots keeps widening.

Smartphone As A Structure

Every technological invention can be viewed as a tool to effect change. What I've noticed recently is that newer inventions are less physical, which somehow fits with globalization and been unencumbered by geographical limits.

Blockchain, crypto and artificial intelligence are new inventions that are beyond borders by nature. They are usually accessed through an interface such as a smartphone. This serves as a structure or foundation on which these inventions can be accessed and make use of. A natural analogy will be a tree. The roots are the foundation that everything else rest on.

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