Has Apple changed our habits?

I must confess: my son considers himself as one of the people of the Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhone generation. Every time Apple launches a new iPhone, I see in him the need to renew his smartphone and the curiosity to know what recent changes are coming in the latest version. The curious thing is that I have been able to appreciate my son’s evolution in his habits, which is complemented by the changes that this smartphone has had in his daily life.

Within the global context, the Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) brand, the tech giant, became the first company to reach $3 trillion in its stock market valuation, surpassing, as a whole, the largest economies of Latin America, according to figures published by the World Bank. The sum of Brazil, Mexico, and Argentina’s GDP amounts to approximately $2.89 trillion, which is less than Apple’s stock market value. The firm’s share price has risen about 5,800% since co-founder and former CEO Steve Jobs introduced the first iPhone in 2007.

So we can say that, from an individual point of view, reflected in my son’s desire to have an iPhone, as in millions of young people and adults, and from a global context, Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) has impacted humanity in a big way.

However, has Apple changed our habits in our daily lives?

The Apple story is truly inspiring. The first thing that struck me is that it put the internet in our hands. The internet has changed our society in many ways, and its impact would not be so significant if we could not have it at our disposal on Apple’s iPhone smartphones. Other innovations followed shortly after Apple’s iPhone with Google (NASDAQ: GOOGL) and Android. The numbers increasingly indicate that the new smartphone options have meant that these devices are slowly replacing person-to-person communication.

Could it be said that practically speaking person-to-person could be a thing of the past?

On the other hand, it is unthinkable to buy a cell phone without a camera. More than 15 years ago, the situation was completely different. The parallel rise of social networks and smartphones has made it possible to integrate mobile photography into our lives in an extraordinary way. According to Deloitte’s technology consulting firm, most photos are now shared and stored with a smartphone. As a curious fact, in 2016, there were already 2.5 trillion images, and 90% were already stored on these smartphones. Nowadays, everything that happens daily is documented on the smartphone camera. This Christmas was no exception.

Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) has presented different models of iPhone with various applications for online work, which has been of significant support during the pandemic. Functionality for GPS and ridesharing apps like Uber (NYSE: UBER) and the various apps and systems for virtual meetings such as Zoom (NASDAQ: ZM) have been vital to the success of this trend at work and in our interaction with the environment around us. What’s more, Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) was the first smartphone manufacturer to add a video calling system through its FaceTime system. It is tough to conceive the working and daily life of human beings without the support of smartphones.

Even for listening to music, Apple, with the addition of the iTunes store, a virtual music library, became the first online music retailer.

I think Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) has contributed significantly to changing our habits in our lives. What I consider a challenge for humanity is to avoid that these new habits of society, due to innovations in smartphones, harm the healthy coexistence and harmony of human beings in their daily lives. The excessive and excessive use of smartphones produces a lack of contact and connection between human beings.