Flip-phones to flipping out: a Spark history of the mobile device

Do you have nomophobia?

Do you even know what that means?

It's a noun, and it is the "fear or worry at the idea of being without your mobile phone or unable to use it," according to the Cambridge Dictionary—which even made it its "word of the year" last year.

It's fitting. These days, our mobile phones are so present in our lives they might as well be part of our body. Indeed, there is a whole area of thinking that argues that it is essentially a body part.

Certainly, no other technology has changed the way people all over the world interact with each other than the mobile phone. And it's all happened so fast—a lot of it within the lifetime of Spark.

Key moments in the evolution of cell phones

So, to that end, we are looking back through 12 years of the cellphone as covered by Spark, from how phones affect our children and the way we parent, to the ever-present peril of notifications, to how to manage what has become, for many, a crippling addiction.

So sit back, click the 'listen' above, and join us in the history of the cell phone, as told on Spark.

Oh, and turn your phone off. Or at least silence the notifications. Please.