My Friend Technology
So I was reading this weeks reading about the sociology of the mobile phone, and I was surprised at the significant social changes that the mobile phone has caused. Growing up at the same time the cell phone was being popularised kept me from ever viewing life without it. And, much like McGuigan points out, social life would be a virtual impossibility without it. But, there was used to be a time when no one had cell phones, and people's lives were still just as active and full and friendships still existed. In today's social world, that would be literally impossible. People without cellphones are automatically places at a social disadvantage. It strikes me as incredible that such a small step in technology completely changes the way people set up and organize their social life.
It makes me wonder how much we will allow our lives be controlled by technology. I enjoy my cell phone. It keeps me connected with people, allows me to rearrange meeting points and times with people easily, makes communication with friends much more immediate, it even serves as a clock. It is a practical piece of technology, which is exactly why its social impact is accepted and overlooked without much thought. But what next technological step will we (as a society) make that will reform our social interactions?
Despite its great functions and abilities, the mobile phone has also dehumanized social interaction. Instead of calling someone on the phone and talking to them, we now just txt like crazy, forfeiting personailty, tone, and other subtleties in language that are only audible. The mobile has become a substitute for human interaction, and has also prevented people from being able to function without it. I dont' think many kids today would be able to handle their day to day responsibilities without their mobile. Like McGuigan has pointed out, the luxury has become a necessity.
I'm not saying we should get rid of mobiles and damn technology to hell. Technology is important and is a natural progression of society. But I think it is kind of disturbing the kind of social power and change pieces of technology can have and can be integrated into everyday life with such subtlety. To what extent are we really in control of technology, and how much does technology control us? I feel like society has allowed technology to dehumanize the social realm, be it through txting, ipods, internet chat rooms, and has moved the social realm into a virtual realm. I found McGuagan's article to be a good reminder of how socially important and determinant technology is, and the necessity for us to be in control of the technology to prevent technology from transferring our social lives into a virtual realm.
transmission over.
It makes me wonder how much we will allow our lives be controlled by technology. I enjoy my cell phone. It keeps me connected with people, allows me to rearrange meeting points and times with people easily, makes communication with friends much more immediate, it even serves as a clock. It is a practical piece of technology, which is exactly why its social impact is accepted and overlooked without much thought. But what next technological step will we (as a society) make that will reform our social interactions?
Despite its great functions and abilities, the mobile phone has also dehumanized social interaction. Instead of calling someone on the phone and talking to them, we now just txt like crazy, forfeiting personailty, tone, and other subtleties in language that are only audible. The mobile has become a substitute for human interaction, and has also prevented people from being able to function without it. I dont' think many kids today would be able to handle their day to day responsibilities without their mobile. Like McGuigan has pointed out, the luxury has become a necessity.
I'm not saying we should get rid of mobiles and damn technology to hell. Technology is important and is a natural progression of society. But I think it is kind of disturbing the kind of social power and change pieces of technology can have and can be integrated into everyday life with such subtlety. To what extent are we really in control of technology, and how much does technology control us? I feel like society has allowed technology to dehumanize the social realm, be it through txting, ipods, internet chat rooms, and has moved the social realm into a virtual realm. I found McGuagan's article to be a good reminder of how socially important and determinant technology is, and the necessity for us to be in control of the technology to prevent technology from transferring our social lives into a virtual realm.
transmission over.
posted by Anonymous at 3:52 pm
2 Comments:
Well, if you think about it, like you say, it's a natural progression of society. I'm sure when Güthenberg invented the printing press people were thinking "oh no, we won't be able to write by hand any more, where will this go??" But society didn't collapse then either.
It's just how people are, we like to invent things. And I don't think the mobile is the worst thing that has happend to society. A lot of people in the world don't even have mobiles, and for example in the U.S it's not common to use it as much as you use it here (and certainly not as much as back where I'm from).
I think there's another thing that has taken over society in a much much bigger way: the TV. Could you live without it? I know there are many who say "I don't watch TV" but seriously, if you at least have access to one you're bound to watch it every now and then.
When I went travelling through South-East Asia I saw a lot of poor communities, people living in what looked like cardboard houses with no water, no beds and about one square-meter per person. But you know what they all had? Aerials sticking up from each and every house, connecting to yes, exactly, a TV.
My point in all this is that if you sit down and think about your everyday life and all the things you use that is involved with technology, it was all new at one time. Everything from electricity to TV to mobiles. And even though there are concernes about new things, embrace it, and it will all turn out good in the end!
Emily :)
I disagree that the mobile phone "dehumanized social interaction". The same argument could be made for Religion, Government, or Domestic practices. The point is Human culture has always evolved over time and this is just a new evolution.
The mobile phone will be so naturalized in the next generation that they would probably consider the abscence of them as abnormal, as we may consider the abscence of the Telephone abnormal.
Has the Telephone, Postal Service, Printing Press, and other forms of Technologically based communication dehumanized social interaction?
As we move towards something new we invariably leave something behind. So who knows, were the doors the internet opened more important than the ones they closed? And how about mobiles?
The great thing is you don't have to be a slave to your mobile if you don't want to. Mobiles allow you to connect with your friends easier, but before the telephone or mobile you might have actually gone next door with a home baked cake and gotten to know your neighbours.
Caleb (broke his hand on Sunday so forgive him for spelling errors and Typos)
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