Glenn Connelly / Photo Editor

It seems impossible to imagine that just more than one year ago the iPhone was only a twinkle in consumers’ eyes. This lovely contraption has made life as we know it so much easier.I have dreamt of one day being able to voice dial a member of my posse while eating dinner (because the use of my hands would be unnecessary at this point). I’d probably hear my mother saying, “Tanya, don’t talk on your cell phone during dinner.” After picking up my napkin and dabbing the corners of my mouth – remember, I was using my hands to eat – I’d look at my mother and feel sad that she lived in the days where music, Internet and telecommunications came from different sources.”Mom, this isn’t a cell phone, it’s an iPhone!” I’d be forced to say. Although, if this ever happened, the next event would be a rendezvous between my mother’s hand and the back of my head.The iPhone has many multimedia features, including those derived from the iPod: music, pictures, movies, etc. We all recognize its features, except for a nifty touch screen that may take a while to get used to, but it’s great to not have to deal with worn-out buttons anymore.There have been phones with cameras and phones with songs, but movies are the next step in phone evolution. Now, when in line at the doctor’s office, instead of entertaining yourself with the same two-dimensional game, you can watch the waxing scene from “The 40-Year-Old Virgin” over and over again.The Internet is the most impressive feature of the iPhone. As of now, you can access Safari and maps via a number of widgets. Widgets, for those of you not intimately acquainted with the Apple Web site, are handy little applications that give stock reports and weather reports. Sadly, they have not yet invented a widget to report on how much time is wasted in front of different types of screens all day long.E-mail is another feature not new to the cell phone world, except that most phones which have a full keypad to type out e-mails and do actual work on are more daunting, such as a BlackBerry. The iPhone, however, allows people to e-mail each other in the trendiest of ways. This includes full HTML and gives a great overall browsing experience.For those who are not technologically savvy and may be intimidated by all of the features that come in a handy, pocket-sized phone, you need not be discouraged. It is your American right to be multitasking to an extreme level. What is it about the complete consolidation of technologies that is so appealing? Perhaps it’s the convenience of it all or perhaps it’s the semblance of becoming like a member of the Jetson family. From now on, phones will be increasingly complicated and complex, becoming an essential part of your life. One day, other technologies will be obsolete and not a day will go by where your phone isn’t used. The iPhone is taking this society into the true 21st century.This century will most see technologies such as the iPhone flourish with more sophistication. Even the “first edition” iPhone is now waning in importance. This first edition has no way to capture streaming video. This is unacceptable for an Apple product because plenty of cellular devices already contain this technology. Looking back on the iPhone to this point, it has been a landmark in popular culture and will usher in a new era combines function and style, leaning very heavily on style. So, happy 7-months-and-8-days birthday, iPhone!

-Tanya Dracolakis is a humanities sophomore.

-This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Daily Aztec.