I posted about this a little bit before here, but thought that this mobile culture knowledge mill would be the perfect place to expand upon it.
First, we all exist in a mobile culture whether that be a phone, tablet, watch, or laptop. Not many people are tied to a desktop any more… other than my dad, who at the young age of 57 hates most technology.
Being a millennial, there are purposes for phone usage and purposes for computer usage. While phones can be used for almost anything, there are some things that just do not feel natural and often websites do not work due to the need to update a browser. Sometimes it is just easier to complete a task on a computer than it is on a mobile device.
Examples where computer is better:
- Booking a Trip
- While someone is able to book a train ticket on a phone, it is exponentially easier to do so from a computer as you can see a better look at the train seating options and even the train schedules are so much easier to see. There is a different level of confidence present when someone uses a computer than a phone. Due to the larger screen, you can be confident that you are choosing the best option.
- Course work.
- Being able to see everything clearly on the larger screen and being able to switch between tabs with ease makes it easier to ensure everything is being completed. WHile one can complete tasks from a mobile phone, it is clear that being able to work more efficiently is key.
- Some elements of posting are not able to be completed when on a mobile phone. For example, when I tried to post something last week, I was not able to edit my original post or embed files. This frustration was not pleasing to say the least. It made me question why doing courses on mobile phones is even a thing if ½ of what you are to do is not able to be completed.
- Design
- Designing anything on a mobile device can be challenging to say the least. Not only can you not move elements where they should go, there is often some difficulty in even typing what should go where or changing a colour of text. While I believe mobile applications help to make changes at a moment’s notice, a laptop is a lot better given you can zoom in and out with ease and make minute changes.
Examples where a mobile phone is better:
- Social Media
- While social media is great on a laptop, there is a lot more work that can be done on a mobile phone. From the ease of scrolling to the posting and sharing ease, a mobile device is the way to go.
- Online Shopping
- While shopping online is fine on the computer, the fact that most stores have apps where card information is already stored makes item purchasing easier and more likely.
- Apps like Amazon make it easy to search what I want, press purchase now, and then something arrives to your house the next day.
Question:
What tasks do you tend to do more on the computer versus your phone or vice versa?
Jasmine
As a writer, I prefer computers for typing (but still colorful pencil crayons and paper for brainstorming!) QWERTY keyboards for quick 2-handed typists may even promote ambidexterity or better dual brain hemisphere activation than right of left handed cursive. My fingers are too fat to write essays on my phone. I have more recently begun to use voice-to-text features of my devices to save time and stay focused.
As a consumer, I prefer to use my computer instead of my phone to pay bills, buy flights and send funds. I have much less games and social media on my computer so I feel there is less likelihood hackers and scammers.
What other roles do we play as tech users? Why do we do different things on different devices when affordances are the same? Is there one device to rule them all?
Hi Jazz, great question! I use my computer and mobile for the same things you have mentioned. Additionally, I prefer to use my mobile for doing quick research, using map applications such as google maps, reading the news, looking at the weather, listening to music / podcasts / audio books. I prefer to use my laptop to do course work, plan and develop lessons and watch videos / shows.
Hi Olivia,
It is interesting how looking at the weather on a smaller device is actually more beneficial. Maybe it is because it is always at our finger tips and is something that we should know about at a moment’s notice whereas developing lessons really isn’t on the same wavelength.
Jazz