Original version

BBC World Service Australasia

The Forum

Documentaries

Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media

The programme that explains the present by exploring the past

The programme that explains the present by exploring the past.

BBC World Service Online

BBC World Service schedule for American satellite radio and the Caribbean

BBC World Service Americas and the Caribbean

BBC World Service

BBC World Service South Asia

BBC World Service News Internet

BBC World Service Europe and the Middle East

BBC World Service East Asia

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa Schedule

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa

BBC World Service West and Central Africa Schedule

BBC World Service West and Central Africa

The Forum: How the mobile phone changed everything

Stack of mobile phones

22/04/2023 GMT

How the mobile phone changed everything

BBC World Service - The Forum, How the mobile phone changed everything

Charting the seismic transformation of our lives caused by mobile communications

A 50-year evolution from a simple communication device to an object that is increasingly indispensable for modern life.

When telecoms engineer Martin Cooper first chatted in public on a mobile phone 50 years ago few would have predicted that this brief telephone call would be the start of a revolution that would change the lives of billions.  Over the last half a century, the mobile has transformed not just how we communicate with each other but also how we view and interact with the world around us. However, recent research suggests that this may not all be for the best.

Drawing on listeners comments and questions, Rajan Datar explores what sets the mobile phone apart from previous communication devices. Why did SMS messaging take off so quickly after a slow start in the 1990s? And how did the morphing of a portable phone into a pocket computer a decade later lead to a situation where many people now interact with their phone more than with any human? 

Rajan is joined by Scott Campbell, Professor of Telecommunications at the University of Michigan whose work focuses on meanings, uses and consequences of mobile communication in everyday life; behavioural psychologist Dr. Daria Kuss from Nottingham Trent University who specialises in cyberpsychology, technology use and addictive behaviours; and comedienne and PhD. candidate at Exeter University Helen Keen who is researching social connections at the Wellcome Centre for Cultures and Environments of Health. We also hear from educator Wong Fung Sing from Singapore and other listeners from around the world.

(Photo: mobile phones in a stack on a table. Credit: iStock/Getty images)

Accessibility links

Programme Index

The Forum

How the mobile phone changed everything

Genres

Formats

Brand

BBC World Service Australasia

About BBC World Service