Back to the Beginning

My very first blog post was about the distress I experienced upon buying my first cell phone. Did I throw part of my ‘true’ self out the window on that day? Did I sell out to a techno-obsessed culture; was I just not strong enough? Or was my anguish just ridiculous, alarmist, and arrogant? Should the fact that I incorporated a teeny tiny digital device into my daily life mean anything to me or anyone else? What’s the big deal? Who even cares?

After a few months of reflecting on the role that digital technology and new media play in social life and individual lived experience, I have to admit that I do care. Maybe my nostalgia for the pre-digi-tech days is misguided and my vision of participation in some misty-eyed resistance movement- (“I was part of the hold-out vanguard!”)- is far too holier-than-thou to be relevant, but I am still hesitant to wholeheartedly accept new technology into my life.

Sure, my cell phone has served as an invaluable tool in finding a place to live, in keeping in touch with friends and family, and in helping an old woman on the day that she slammed her Camry into a Hummer and rolled over on the motorway just in front of our car. Yes, I have benefited in many ways from the convenience afforded me by having a cell phone and yes, I have enjoyed accessorizing my mobile (cute charm!) and accessorizing myself with my mobile (its bottom-of-the-lineness was cool to me), but no, it is not all good. I do not want to become a person-phone hybrid. I do plan to abandon my phone upon returning to Canada in December, but I also want to challenge techno-culture’s influence in my life by remaining critical of the role the device (cell phone, mp3 player, laptop, lipstick, or otherwise) plays in how I constitute myself as an individual and as a member of society.