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Never without their smartphones: a global revolution
PARIS, Nov 13, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – At the sharp end of conflict in Syria, in a
schoolchild’s bag in Kenya, whether fighting deadly diseases or studying
forestry, the smartphone has become ubiquitous in just over a decade.
This year, the number of users is expected to pass three billion, and AFP
photographers have sampled how the phones have become a mainstay of lives
around the world for people who cannot live without them.
Take Moris Atwine, 25. The Ugandan entrepreneur helped to develop a mobile
app to aid in the diagnosis of malaria, a worldwide killer, without the need
for a blood sample, and transmit the result in seconds.
Qiao Xi, 21, describes her smartphone as her “boyfriend”. From an all-blue
studio, the Beijing-based vlogger live-streams songs, dance moves and
observations about her daily life to some 600,000 followers on the Huoshan
channel.
From the frivolous to the deadly serious, Mohammed Hamroush is a member of
the “White Helmets” group, which rushes to help the wounded in rebel-held
parts of Syria.
Hamroush’s smartphone helps the volunteer to track bombardments, get to
where help is needed, and allows his worried wife to know he’s safe.
Inna Salminen works in far calmer conditions, using her smartphone to
survey the forests of Finland, but knows too that the device can be a
lifesaver if she gets lost in a remote area.
The 27-year-old conservation expert speaks for a whole generation when she
describes only having a “hazy memory” of life before smartphones.
Aged 13, Imelda Mumbi has no such memory at all. The Kenyan schoolgirl uses
her smartphone for fun, of course, but also to help her studies.
Imelda counts on Eneza, an interactive educational app which has about
three million users worldwide, plugging her corner of Africa into a global
network that has grown from nothing in a few short years.
BSS/AFP/RY/1610 hrs