No offense at all, but you know you could have accomplished literally all of that with out a cell phone too? I'm not saying your opinion is wrong or right, but calling people and taking pictures are not really exclusive to owning a cell phone.
While it's true that I could carry around a different device of equal size to my phone in order to take photos (which seems no more convenient and no less disruptive), I'm not sure how I would go about calling my friends at an event where we were all away from home, everyone was constantly on the move between different locations, and no landlines would have been available to us, let alone convenient for use.
And, too, while it's possible to share photographs taken on a camera online with friends, it's less possible to share them
quickly when one would have to go back to one's hotel room to fetch one's laptop, upload the photos, etc. Not to mention that back when I owned a camera but not a phone I'd often forget to carry it, but I don't forget to carry my phone. I always have a camera on me now, which allows me to get a lot more candid shots than I used to.
And, too, those were only a couple of examples of things I can do with my phone. I didn't bring up games because I assumed that the user to whom I was replying would poo-poo the idea of playing games on one's phone (tons of really innovative indie games are available to smart phone users--but that requires one to care about gaming and view it as a worthwhile use of time). And I didn't mention the fact that I was able to forego carrying a bulky paper schedule because I'd downloaded the app for the event; while it would have been
possible for me to carry around the paper version,
not having to carry it allowed me to wear a costume without ruining the aesthetic by carrying a bag. Without a smart phone I probably would have gone bagless but not had the schedule handy, and I would have missed out on things because I wouldn't have been able to check anything on the go.
I mean, I see your point. I just think that the convenience factor
is a factor that radically changes how I use all the functions mentioned. Back in high school, before I got a phone of any kind, I used to tell myself that it didn't matter because I could do all the things one did with a phone without owning one. And
technically I could--I could carry both a music player and a camera, and I could rely on my laptop for social media, and I could...I don't know, use payphones? Hope my friends are near payphones? Still stuck on that one since no one owns beepers anymore. But having it all combined into one device changes the way one approaches it and significantly changes the way one experiences all of those things, so I stand by the statement that you bolded in your response.