Four years ago I was sucked straight into the world of all things Apple. I rely heavily on my iPhone to get through the day, and if I had to give it up for even a week I would be living with severe withdrawals. What would I reach over to look at first thing in the morning, a newspaper? My iPhone is the home of my music collection so for me, it’s my source of relaxation. My iPhone has fixated itself into my daily lifestyle, like an added appendage (Richardson, 2007) and it wasn’t until I sat down to write this blog post that I actually thought, what would I do without it? My answer: finally get round to buying an ipad.
The social costs of mobile devices are that they act as a necessity in many people’s lives, especially within younger generations. Sherry Turkle, a psychologist and director of the MIT Initiative on Technology and Self says that “there’s this sense that you can have the illusion of companionship without the demands of friendship.” (Turkle, 2009) She also makes the interesting point that our youth are using technology to cut corners on the demands of friendship and the intimacy that comes with those relationships. The reliance of text messaging and social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram are acting as barriers for face to face contact and come at huge social costs. We are losing touch with how to interact with each other in person.
Our personal identities are heavily influenced by mobile devices due to our reliance on their capabilities. Online communication and collaboration technologies can be facilitated through mobile devices which on one hand is enriching as we are not just being influenced by our physical surrounds. (Gluesing, 2009) However, the impact they have on our personal identities can also have a ‘cyborg’ effect as we are now relying on these mobile devices to be an external brain. Amber Case says that technology is evolving us, “as we become a screen staring, button clicking new version of homo sapiens.” (Case, 2010)
I agree with Amber Case and can too see us as a generation of cyborgs and that as we move forward, mobile devices will continue to embed themselves into our daily rituals – allowing for rapid learning and communication between individuals and community.
Turkle, 2010, ‘Interview with Sherry Turkle,’ Frontline, viewed December 2 2012, <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/digitalnation/interviews/turkle.html>
Richardson, 2007, ‘Pocket Technospaces: The Bodily Incorporation of Mobile Media,' Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies, Routledge
Case, 2010, ‘Amber case: We are all cyborgs now,’ TED, viewed December 2 2012, <http://www.ted.com/talks/amber_case_we_are_all_cyborgs_now.html>.
Gluesing, 2009, 'Identity in a virtual world: The Coevolution of Technology, Work and Lifestyle,’ Mobile Work, Mobile Lives: Cultural Accounts of Lived Experiences, Wiley-Blackwell.
