NASA went to the moon. We've got nothing to show for phones, except being phones. People aren't using their phones for complex analysis of fluid dynamics to design airfoils. At best, they're watching cat videos with them, at worst, sending videos of themselves. None of this requires high bandwidth or processing. Just because we developed Inconel doesn't mean we should be making paper clips out of it.
I was around when PC's first came out, and was convinced they'd revolutionize everything. I was wrong. Back then, the best thing they were for most people was a toy. The same is true now. For 90+% of the world that uses them, they make great game platforms. And the phones are just phones.
And yeah, I do wish everyone would get off my lawn...
Yeah, the joke I heard about it was, "We have all this processing power on our phones and what do we do with it? Watch cat videos and throw birds at pigs (Angry Birds)."
Phones and tablets have made huge differences. It is so much easier, and cheaper, to use FF/WingX/etc to get all of the sectionals/low IFR/approach plates/etc and have them in one package. Filing flight planes via the internet. Checking weather, NOTAMs and more. I no longer fax waiver forms back to Angel Flight, I take a pic and email it to them. My wife can see when I'll be home from the Angel Flight on FlightAware. Simple to do research on fuel prices and info on FBOs online.
Generally it is so much easier to book flights, cars, hotels than calling in the old days and using a phone.
Do people use them a lot on playing or wasting time? Yup.
None of it as computationally demanding as fluid dynamics, but certainly makes life a lot easier.
