Over the past five to 10 years, the importance of mobile phones in our society has increased to an astonishing and rather eerie degree.

Based on a recent survey, it seems that the pace will only grow faster as we enter the near future.

Two out of three experts surveyed by the Pew Internet & American Life Project think that by 2020 most Americans will have completely replaced cash and credit cards with their mobile phones — as if the illusion of a monetary system could get any more imaginary. Even Visa knows the trend is growing. The emerging markets section of Visa’s mobile page highlights the dominance of mobile payments in the third world:

“Nowhere is the power of mobile payments more apparent than in developing economies where mobile penetration outpaces bank card availability. Using existing mobile devices to access and transfer funds, to make payments, to pay bills or to top-up wireless air time, mobile financial services represent a ‘leapfrog’ technology in these under served regions.”

While the convenience of having all your money on one mobile machine is attractive, avoiding the demanding effort of searching through a wallet, the dependency we have on phones now is a problem. We overestimate the stability of technology, especially technology that we don’t understand enough to which we can be so loyal. This is not to mention glitches like the recent Gmail crash that can cause more serious issues than missing an email once we begin relying on Google to make purchases.

Apps like Google Wallet have already made the buy-through-phone option possible for users, held back only by the lack of vendors supported. Needless to say, the name combination — Google and wallet — invokes a sense of paranoia to such a degree that chills can be seen rolling down any privacy-conscious user’s spine,

A normal wallet doesn’t have the drawbacks that Google does — neither does cash. Cash doesn’t need a battery, cash doesn’t glitch and cash doesn’t break just in time for the next upgrade.

Is using our phone to make purchases really that much easier? Technology’s purpose is to improve the quality of life, but advances like these are needless and just add more problems. As the saying goes, “If it’s not broke, don’t fix it.” That being said, maybe these experts are wrong, and it is likely they are. Cash is still king — for now, that is — and phones, which cost money and require data plans, will have a hard time knocking the king off the throne.

The concept of paying for something to pay for something just doesn’t seem logical. Credit cards were once said to replace cash, and so far, have not done so, but have contributed a fair share of trouble themselves.

Still, it’s getting harder and harder to go without some sort of plastic card for transactions over the phone or online. What separates cash from plastic and smartphone apps is what keeps cash on it’s high place — security.

The high cost of smartphones mixed with the public’s security concerns will undoubtedly limit the popularity of phone transactions. The year 2020 seems too near for such a bold prediction. However, that’s not to say that sometime soon the experts will be right.

Maybe some day, smartphone transactions will be more reliable and safer than cash or debit cards, but as of now, I don’t think it is. Advancing with the times is important. I’m not saying technology hasn’t been an extremely helpful and crucial part of our society because it has, but we seem to be in a technological transition era that may have a disastrous outcome if we aren’t careful.

Recently it seems like we’ve been working towards a future shadowed by laziness and a reliability on flawed computers. As we continue being fed new and powerful technology, we should be cautious with every bite.