Over the past decade, we've seen the technology develop from something we were just becoming familiar with and slowly embracing, to what it has become now. Contemporary people now depend on the ability to communicate with our friends and colleagues wherever and whenever we need it, on the ability to access and share multimedia content on any device, and on the ability to work on the go and collaborate with our ideas and documents with people. all over the world. Technology has become truly valuable to the modern world and without it the world would suffer from drastic social and economic consequences. One technological strand that has played a leading role in this development is human communication and interface technology. The smartphone has proven to be the first fully adopted example of this technology, allowing people to stay constantly connected to the Internet and their friends wherever they are. After exploring this technology in more detail and outlining its impact and our dependence on it, secondary technological advances will be explored. Such secondary advances make the progression of this strand of technology possible, with the innovation of virtual reality only proven to improve the functionality of modern smartphones. The way we interact with the world around us has developed significantly since the first desktop computers. Early access to the Internet for general, public use was actually only available to those who could afford the large, expensive desktop computer systems, but as computing evolved and smaller, higher-performance systems became more available and convenient, our addiction to having this Internet connection was also developing. The trend continues to grow with the conti...... middle of paper ......id.htmlCanalys. (2005). The global smartphone market grows dramatically in the third quarter. Retrieved March 19, 2012, from http://www.canalys.com/static/press_release/2005/r2005102.pdfGoldsborough, R. (2010). Laptop as a desktop PC replacement. Retrieved March 30, 2012, from http://search.proquest.com.libraryproxy.griffith.edu.au/docview/224872431?accountid=14543Greenleaf, W. (2004). Medical applications of virtual reality. Retrieved March 27, 2012, from http://www.greenleafmed.com/publications/VR%20Med%20overview.pdfNi, L. & Zheng, P. (2006). In focus: the rise of the smartphone. Retrieved March 28, 2012, from http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.libraryproxy.griffith.edu.au/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=1621016Vlahos, J. (2009). Popular Science: The Future of the Army. Retrieved March 16, 2012, from http://www.vuzix.com/site/_doc/tactical/Popular_Science_FCS_Vuzix_Article.pdf