I still remember the day iPod and iPhone were released. My classmate would bringing it to park and show off to me. During the Christmas season, more classmates would come to me and show off their iPod with the customized text engraving says “by Santa”. I didn’t receive one from my parents so I just envy them and whenever I get a chance to borrow, I played games with them. But as time goes, I realized that people really do think it is cool to rely on their iPhone(or Android smartphone) and ignore socialization, especially for those in my generation. We would go to library to study but they end up not finishing any assignment because they were on their iPhone the whole day.
Just like that, I started to see technology being carried and taken to everywhere any time, and use them like a part of their natural ability. In short, the technology became mobile. If you want to call someone you had to go to call station to make a call, if you want to flash under the desk, you had to go grab a flashlight, but now, you don’t have to run around the house but just make that happen at the place right away, with one device that you carry around. In addition to the basic accessibilities like camera, flashlight, and clock, the web socialization that was only possible on desktop became available in one tiny device.
So it is a quite big shift in human interaction with technology. Interaction design’s focus developed to mobile UI design from Web UI and feedback design in desktop, which led to the goal of designers, “faster”, and “more naturally” in user experience. Because people can’t be carrying their iPhone out to the street, and do the same amount of tasks you do on desktop. As technology got mobile, interaction designers needed to focus on making human interactions quicker, simpler, and smoother.
