By Daniel Moiseev
Portable devices everyone has and use everyday have many different affects on our lives. These devices range from large powerful laptops to small smart watches we ware on our wrists. These devices can enhance our lifestyle like easily communicate with others make things more accessible like the internet and help us find out way if we are lost. But with many pros there will always be some cons that have a negative impact on out everyday life. This report will cover GPS, Cellphones, and laptops.
GPS Stands for Global Positioning System (Created by the USA) Glonass is used and created by Russia. GPS and Glonass are two of the biggest positioning systems in use. They both work on the same principal. "GPS is a system. It's made up of three parts: satellites, ground stations, and receivers." [1] We know where exactly each satellite is. Next, the ground stations make sure they are exactly where they should be. Last the receiver in your phone or car constantly communicates with these satellites. The receiver figures you're the distances and triangulates your location on the earth.
GPS affects everything. GPS is an extremely powerful tool use today by the military, modern commercial aircraft, and most of all practically everyone owning a smartphone. The military GPS is used everywhere; in all aircraft like large cargo planes, fighter jets, and helicopters. Most land and sea vehicles use it like small military trucks to large battle ships and aircraft carriers and last many soldiers carry smaller GPS trackers. The military uses it to know their exact location, speed, and latitude. This will improve navigation and greatly reduces friendly fire in warzones because the troops know where others are. This tool is perfect for planning tactical attacks helping soldiers make more precise attacks and make modern war more safe [2]. Originally GPS was designed by the US military and could only be use for military purposes but now it is free to use and can be used worldwide as long as you have a GPS receiver. This means you can use your phone to find your location. But did you know that GPS does not require any cellular data so if you are in a natural disaster and any local cell towers are down you can still find where you are and then get help from rescue crew finding you using your phone? This has already saved many lives and the numbers are just going up. Now let's say you are not in a natural disaster, in a plane, or executing an attack in the military then GPS can help you find your loved ones or your phone. This will require an active connection to the internet so that a program can send you the co-ordinates of your phone. If you have the connection this can help you find people or your lost phone. For example, Apple has a system called "Find My iPhone" [3] this sends the co-ordinates of your phone to the cloud and you can find it through any browser or another Apple mobile device. Now if you are using an Android phone or a Windows phone then you are covered by Google as long as you have signed in with your Google account and are connected to a network. This can be found by typing in "Find my device" [4] on Google in any browser even off another phone.
According to Pewinternet [5] 77% of American adults own a smartphone and 95% of American adults own a cell phone of some sort in the beginning of 2018. This is the vast majority of people who own a cellular device. Since almost everyone has one then any negative or positive impact will affect a lot of people. Many of these are small things or ones many people don't know or realize.
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Laptops are another huge portable many of us use today. Majority of laptops are used by adults for professional purposes. Laptops are similar to desktops but they have a battery and are portable. These devices help many people work on projects and communicate with other people not just at their office or at home they can take it on the go. As laptops are getting more efficient and powerful many people replace their desktop and use a laptop instead for the simplicity of having on device. This also is crucial for people who travel a lot on work related business trips because they can take their laptop on an aircraft and continue to work on it to save time. There are some negative affects related to laptops most are the same as the ones covered for smartphones but one big issue that with cheaper laptops the batteries are often also not the most expletive high-quality lithium. This can result in bloating, shorter overall life span and worst of all they are prone to explosions or fires.
This has only covered tip of the iceberg explaining how portable devices can impact our lives by helping of causing negative affects. As to how they should be used portable devices should be used well rounded. On the other side you should not be using them all the time isolating yourself from the outside world and too should not avoid them all together because they can improve may aspects of your life.