Camera phones now outnumber dedicated cameras, MP3 downloads exceed compact disc sales, and some countries report cellphone ownership exceeding 100 percent.

In Britain, a billion cellphone text messages are sent each week. There have been medical records of cellphone addiction. The changes and increase in the use of technology are obvious, but how much time do we spend contemplating the deeper societal implications?

"What we might not notice is that these technologies have led to new forms of commerce, employment, crime, artistic expression and political organisation," John Traxler, director of the Learning Lab at the University of Wolverhampton in England, said at SciFest Africa 2008 in Grahamstown.

In some countries it's possible to buy stunguns with MP3 players built in. "The manufacturers say they put the cute into electrocute," said Traxler.

There are cellphones that can be used underwater, a pair of underpants intended to counter the effects of cellphone radiation, and Nokia is referring to cellphones as our new "private parts".

In some places, people are using cellphones to transfer money and pay for goods. It's possible to go to a shop and buy a loaf of bread with an sms. "Mobile and wireless technologies are making an enormous difference to our lives," said Traxler.

Technology is even entering our spiritual lives. In a temple in India, where people would usually queue for hours to pray to a statue of Ganesh, they now simply send the god a text message.

In KwaZulu Natal, according to www.reporter.co.za, some children born since 1993 have been registered at Home Affairs with the following names: Nokia Khumalo, Voicemail Ngobese, Ringtone Khoza, Prepaid Zwane and Hands Free Tshabalala.

Technologies such as iPods enable people to take private activities with them into public spaces.

"It begins to have an effect on our sense of community and how we communicate," said Traxler. "We're having to learn how to manage that."

Priorities were shifting, he noted. "Virtual communities can become more important than actual families. Physical communities feel threatened or disempowered by the various virtual communities we've started to belong to," he said.

Technology was also changing the ways we organise ourselves in society. Flash mobs are seemingly spontaneous gatherings, organised via sms, email or chat rooms, which involve crowds of people suddenly materialising in a public place to jointly carry out a certain random activity, and then quickly dispersing.

But there is a downside to the new social networking capabilities offered by technology. "It's changing not only our behaviour, but also our misbehaviour," said Traxler.

Happy-clapping was a phenomenon started by primary school children who would slap each other and record it using cellphones. Traxler said that in the UK, a barman was murdered by four teenagers who captured his death with a phone.

But there is also the possibility of empowerment. Mobile technologies, particularly cellphones, are being used to take learning to people beyond the reach of the education system, such as those in rural areas, where cellphone penetration is usually good.