iPhone Life magazine

iPhone: 21st century steam engine

Damon McGill 10.5.10

What James Watt and the steam engine did for the industrial revolution, I believe Apple and the iPhone will do for the 21stcentury worker.

Allow me introduce myself. My name is Damon McGill and this is my first blog posting ever. I work as an electrical engineer and as a ICU nurse.

Within both of these diverse fields I find several uses each day to incorporate my iPhone into my work life. As a nurse, having access to medical applications and the Internet in my pocket literally has saved lives.

But corporate America must change the way they view workers using their phones. Granted in the recent past when you saw someone using their phone at work, they usually were just talking on it. Now, with the iPhone and other smart phones, an employee can do productive work with a tool that once was used exclusively to talk.  This brings me to the crux of my first ever blog post.

How do you change manager’s views about workers using their iPhones to do work for the company? Is it simply a matter of educating management or is there better way to bring about a change in attitudes? I welcome your feedback.

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Damon McGill
http://www.appsbysbcdesigns.com

My interests include computer hardware design along with software to support those designs. I have been an electrical engineer since 1993 when I graduated from Mississippi State University.
Since graduating, my areas of interest include robotics, artificial intelligence, and inventing products that advance society.
I have always had an interest in the medical field and decided to earn a nursing degree (University of Southern Mississippi) to fulfill my curiosity about this wonderful field.
My current iPhone/iPad interests include sharing the knowledge of how to program these revolutionary devices and developing applications for these devices.

Old Comments

Welcome, Damon! I think that

Submitted by Jim Karpen on 10/5/10 3:59pm

Welcome, Damon! I think that as managers use the technology themselves, they'll gradually come to see the utility. Seems like personal experience with it will be the key.

Jim

So Right!

Submitted by Swift on 10/5/10 4:44pm

Jim & Damon,

I totally agree. The problem is that some people (leaders in the work force) refuse to change from their old way to doing things because it allows them to have control over what is being accomplished--they simply want things done their way or the "highway." Good luck with this one Damon.

Exactly! People do not like

Submitted by Damon McGill on 10/5/10 8:06pm

Exactly! People do not like change but in today's world change happens every day. If we are to keep our technological edge, and we do not have much of one anymore over the world, we must embrace technology in the workplace and not rush to judgment just because someone has a cell phone in their hand. People hated the steam engine when it first appeared in the workplace, but it changed the world. I really believe the iPhone is a 21stcentury steam engine.

Students using their calculators in English class

Submitted by Johnny Jet on 10/6/10 7:23am

Nice thought but most of the time the phone would be used to check a facebook posting personal email or sports scores. Students and other are addicted to the devices like myself.