Powell - Me and my cell phone: and other essays on technology in everyday life

Publisher:

Langaa RPCIG

Langaa Research & Publishing Common Initiative Group

P.O. Box 902 Mankon

Bamenda

North West Region

Cameroon

www.langaa-rpcig.net

Distributed in and outside N. America by African Books Collective

www.africanbookcollective.com

ISBN: 9956-727-14-8

Crystal Powell 2012

DISCLAIMER

All views expressed in this publication are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Langaa RPCIG.

To my family, friends and supervisor for encouraging me to write

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are fascinating devices. They have been systematically introduced to the world and have increasingly (and quite rapidly) become a normal part of everyday life for many people. The cell phone, in particular, has become a major attribute to the human existence and indeed, those who do not own a cell phone can find themselves relegated to an uncomfortable, almost inexcusable, minority. The Japanese refer to cell phones as keitai : something you carry with you. More than a technological device that offers the freedom of mobility, keitai represents a snug and intimate techno-social tethering, a personal device supporting communications that are constant, lightweight, and mundane in everyday life (Ito et al 2005: 1, 20). On the surface, keitai would seem to be a generally appropriate term for the cell phone as its rapid integration into the daily lives of many could indicate such a cozy and comfortable tethering, perhaps taken for granted. However, a deeper look into these techno-social relationships could reveal a tethering of a slightly different nature; one of tension and insecurity, of frustration and forced contentment. Studies have shown that people willingly use cell phones because of their most assumed benefits including: constancy of communication, mobility, individual control and privacy (Horst & Miller 2006: 79), the compression of distance, agency stimulation and the upgrading of prestige and social status (de Bruijn et al 2009). Whether these assumed benefits prove accurate all, most, some or none of the time can influence the nature of the unavoidable techno-social tethering that one is (subconsciously) bound to develop with their technological devices.

Despite becoming an active cell phone user relatively late compared to most people that I know, the cell phone, in general, had become so mundane in and around my life. Even before I purchased my own cell phone, almost everyone I knew had one and it was a common feature among the people that I saw daily. I took its existence for granted and never questioned its impact even in my own life. I remember when cell phones first became popular and how exciting it was for people to show them off. It was not long before they became routine and I became somewhat desensitized to them thereafter until I purchased my own cell phone thus rekindling my awareness of them. I have owned a cell phone (on and off) for about four years now. I recently had the opportunity to write a reflexive essay detailing my own relationship and experiences with my cell phone an ICT that I will focus on during my Doctoral research at the University of Cape Town (UCT) in Cape Town, South Africa. Acknowledging that quality research depends on quality questions, writing this essay was a welcomed challenge of answering a researchers question on often taken for granted everyday relations. Thus emerged Me and My Cell Phone . I begin my essay with a glimpse of my life before I purchased a cell phone and then I share my experiences with the device up to the present. Before writing this essay I had not really known my own ambivalences around owning a cell phone and the turmoil that had been brewing in my own techno-social tethering which reflects itself in the way I currently use my cell phone. It became clear to me that I both cherished and despised my phone. On the one hand I was in love with my cell phone, cooing over its every feature and dazzled by its many functions (despite never maximizing its full capabilities). I was impressed by its ability to transform my seemingly un-cool and unimportant social standing to none other than cool (fancy) and important (at least in my eyes). Furthermore, I loved its hybridity. Lamoureaux (2011:40) writes that a cell phone is both a tool for keeping in touch and for artfully avoiding that social obligation. This ambidextrous quality was, by far, my phones most coveted value. I was grateful for its ability to keep my family and friends close when necessary while at the same time relieved and comforted by its ability to offer freedom from those same people; helping to deliver me to and from conversations and social obligations that I might otherwise have had to miss out on or commit to. I was grateful for its ability to both compress and maintain distance.

On the other hand my cell phone, I learned, was capable of an unhealthy dependency and emotional imprisonment. My cell phone had the potential to draw me in demanding complete (sometimes involuntary) emotional involvement towards its existence beyond its function as a communication device. I was, in a sense, trapped in the seemingly inevitable relationship that is forged between person and object if one is not careful. A relationship built on trust in the performance and abilities of the cell phone and ones complete reliance on it as (one of) their primary source(s) of communication and its ability to be a trustworthy companion. While a meaningful relationship with a cell phone might be necessary for a smooth integration into ones life, too many uncertainties attributed to the cell phone can result in a sudden break-up between the two resulting in certain emotions rarely acknowledged, talked about or admitted by the person. I speak of two extremes of the techno-social relationship between me and my cell phone: I loved it and hated it. However, to present the relationship between myself and my cell phone as solely binary, fluctuating between the two extremes would be misleading. Techno-social relationships, as are any relationships, are never always harmonious, nor are they always in conflict. Techno-social relationships are not black and white and I had the opportunity to grapple with my own gray matter in between the two extremes, acknowledging the times when our relationship was indifferent and I did not love it or hate. I simply put up with it and relegated its existence to a (sometimes) necessary communication device and nothing more.

Writing Me and My Cell Phone helped me to confront my own ambiguities towards owning a cell phone and the pleasures and challenges of using the device to ensure communication with others on my own terms. Excitement around new technologies like the cell phone has resulted in a tendency for people to assume a position of technological determinism regarding relationships between technology and society. Had I not acknowledged my own intimate history with my cell phone, I too may have subconsciously sided with this notion, asking limited and limiting questions around techno-social relationships. I became keenly aware of my cell phone in relation to myself, particularly as I interchange between being a cell phone owner and active cell phone user when I am away at school and being a cell phoneless individual when I am home. I grew more and more curious about ICTs in general; how people used them and what people were saying about them.

My curiosity was not limited to cell phones per se but the Internet and social media as well, particularly social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. In my quest to learn more about ICTs, I read a series of articles, scholarly books and novels. This book is thus a culmination of my thoughts and reactions to and interpretations of what I have read and the stories (public and private) that I have heard about ICTs. I start with my own reflexive essay Me and My Cell Phone, as chapter 2, inviting the reader to share my experiences of owning a cell phone. My experiences, though perhaps not particularly unique, I hope, will be of interest not only as far as they could reveal similarities with the readers own relationship with their cell phone (and other technologies) but will be entertaining and entice the reader to read further. Furthermore, I hope Me and My Cell Phone will help the reader to better understand my interpretations of ICTs throughout the book.