LOJOCONNECT.COM
location-based technology + journalism

Navigating around our mobile options

By Hope Needles

A special report in the April 10th edition of The Economist examines the multitude of ways that wireless devices have transformed basic human interactions and social norms. According to the report, mobile technology has created a new urban, nomadic lifestyle in which it is possible to travel to virtually anywhere in the world and still stay connected to work, friends and the news, via technology such as Wi-Fi, smart phones and PDAs. Gone are the days when mobile phones were only useful for making phone calls and sending text messages. Today, these devices have become our go-to gadgets for retrieving email, news, music and video content.

The article defines a modern urban nomad as someone who is able to travel the world without the cumbersome technology that was once needed to connect with others in an office setting. In many cases, this traveler is still able to access documents, participate in video conference meetings and engage in other interactions simultaneously, without the time, energy or grunt work of physical obligations.

While it may be true that mobile phones and wireless access have improved our lives dramatically, on a variety of levels, The Economist brings up a critical issue that I often worry about myself, as society becomes increasingly dependent on technology. As we continue to trade regular phone calls and face-to-face interactions for microblogging and SMS, what is happening to our social norms? Media experts, researchers and anthropologists alike have arrived at the conclusion that a new social landscape is emerging, in which social etiquette and our personal relationships are redefined across mobile and wireless platforms.

According to political scientist and Harvard professor Robert Putnam, mobile technology and the spread of the Internet may be contributing to a diminished sense of community. Putnam carried out a study in which he examined people’s sentiments towards mobile phones in a number of different environments. He concluded that mobile phones can be potential disturbances to society when they serve as unwelcome guests in social situations. He also found that mobile phones can increasingly disengage us from others, as we become obsessed with checking our email and completing work-related tasks outside of normal business hours. I agree with Putnam on this front, but I would also say that mobile devices can be used to enhance our social connections for the better, depending on the services that we utilitze. Microblogging services such as Twitter and Tumblr, and GPS social-tagging services such as dodgeball and loopt, for example, have been used to help friends connect with each other through constant text and GPS location updates.

Whatever your take may be on how mobile devices have altered our social norms, I think that it is clear that wireless innovations have created more media opportunities than ever before. I am constantly aware of this when I set out to complete a single task on my phone, such as a Google search, but get diverted from this because of incoming email, display ads and text messages.

Just the other day, I decided to use my phone to order in food for dinner. I began searching Google for restaurant options, but was interrupted by an incoming text message from a friend. By the time I finished communicating with my friend, I realized that I still had to follow-up with someone from class, via email, about an assignment. Twenty minutes later I had finished what needed to be done using my phone, but I still had yet to complete my initial task of finding a restaurant’s phone number to order dinner. Clearly, like most mobile phone users today, I have become increasingly receptive to using my portable device for communication, work, and entertainment purposes. These are all highly personalized features that are built into my phone, which I would argue are nearly impossible to find in any other medium.

Wednesday, April 23rd, 2008 Filed under Industry research |