As powerful as the Internet is, there has been fewer transformative technologies developed from 1950 to now than from the steam engine to 1950.

Just a few: radio, radar, penicillin, automobiles, telephone, refrigeration (huge), air flight, train transport, x-rays, and much much more.

Rewrite the headline to "make phone calls obsolete" and it'll give you 1) an idea of how transformative voice transmissions were (and still are for families) and 2) an idea of how people forget what phones are actually good for.

If I had to give up everything on my smart phone except one function I would keep the ability to speak to my mother, children, and grandchildren.

Yes, I could use VoIP on my desktop if I wanted, but I don't want and I can't take my desktop with me. I can buy a GPS, radio/mp3 player, camera,e-book reader and more to replace those functions. I would retain voice calls and give up only what? Social media? I don't use any. Email when not at home (yawn)? Surfing the Web?