Resubmitted!

7messages-2.wav

Susy Derkins: An interesting property of the power to being in several places at once granted by cell phones is that it allows for new venues of personal interaction. During a phone call, the caller and the called are *there* but not _really *there*_: which one is true? Usually the parts tacitly agree on the _being there_ perception. But cell phones can grant you the ability to apply the _being there/not really being there_ **in an asymmetric fashion**. I´d like to illustrate an instance of asymmetric _being there/not really being there_, within the dynamics of a marriage in which one of the partners work outside the home and the other stays at home with the kids. It works at two levels. First, this wav is the voicemail announcements.

message1.wav

These next wavs are second, the actual poison-filled messages: In this case, the cell phone allows the stay-at-home spouse _to be there_, anywhere the working-outside-the-home spouse is. To be there, inside his/her cell phone. And this same cell phone is particularly useful to remind the selfish-working-outside-the-home-spouse that he/she _is not there_ presently, and, by the way, that he/she **never is**. The cell phone makes distance apply to only one of the directions of the call. And in that sense, if the stay-at-home spouse is so inclined, cell phones are excellent means to enhance emotional blackmail: ubiquitous torture. Cell phone-associated technologies allow for wonderfully exquisite refinements to this type of torture. Discharged batteries, signal loss, lack of prepaid credit are all useful ways in which the called becomes not only *physically absent* but _*unreachable*_. So, he/she is *not there **twice**, while the caller *is right there* even if the phone doesn't ring. Cell phone voicemail: the perfect tool for instilling terror in the working-outside-the-home spouse....

message2.wav

This is indeed an enhancement phenomenon, since the caller wouldn´t say such things in person, or even on the phone in real time. But there is the ability to save the messages, and the guarantee than the called will be the only person to hear them, and will no doubt delete them immediately, leaving no trace of evil whatsover...

Skate boarding while on the phone

Lincoln: Which brings me to another disadvantage to the cell. It's distracting. Especially when driving. But also when eating or when with company. Or any time really. It's distracting. Nobody wants to miss anything, especially me. So people are constantly checking their phone for their messages or their texts or the interweb or whatever. Being distracted is almost never good.

Reverse

Spidere: I think the interesting aspect to the reverse is that the cell phone allows us access to so many things by acting as a thin client, simply a connection to the broad resources in the world. But as it incorporates more technology and more capabilities, I think that in its reverse, it eventually becomes the extremely portable computer. It gives not only convenient access to distant knowledge and resources, but also significant local computing resources at our fingertips at all times (to monitor, sort, analyze and filter that information for us).

Superhero

Spidere: Gaming is another area that is enhanced by the access, from webcam caches (http://www.geocaching.com/about/cache_types.aspx to Pac-Manhattan (http://pacmanhattan.com/) to McGonigal-style ARGs. (http://avantgame.blogspot.com) Having a cell phone can make you a secret agent or a superhero.

Shopping

Spidere: Really, what the cell phone can do is allow us to be in many places at once. By being able to contact someone no matter where we are or where they are, we can collectively act as though we are in many places simultaneously. We can see this effect first in the enhancement of shopping: with one person at home, it's trivial to ask questions about what is missing, what is needed, what size and shape possibilities are, instantaneously upon seeing something potentially interesting. It allows a groups of people to split up, with an easy way to cover more ground and more tasks, but sill converge together again later.

Construction

You can see the effect in enhancing business as well. Aside from the constantly-connected system administrators or hedge fund analysts, it goes all the way down to the construction worker who comes to an ambiguous point in the plans and can instantly contact the architect for clarification. Fewer errors, and less wasted time.

The paper I carried with me so ideas wouldn't be lost.

Lincoln: I kept with me on my person at all times a piece of paper that asked the question "What do cell phones mean?" And every time I came up with any thought on the subject I would write it down on my piece of paper. Mostly what I made on that piece of paper was a list of pros and cons. And the list of cons is large. I just got my first cellular telephone about two months ago. I have been opposed to the idea of them. And my list proved why. Another disadvantage I wrote down rather quickly was the question "Why do we need them?" I mean we humans functioned as a race without the use of cell phones for centuries with no problems at all. We mapped the world without cell phones. We organized and scheduled complex systems like a major league baseball season without the use of cell phones. We went to the moon without cell phones. So, why do we need them? To make the world more immediate and accessible? I suppose. I have a lot of actor friends who say that they need their cell phone, because if their agent calls and wants them to go into an audition or whatever, they need to be available right now or else somebody else gets the part. Handy, right? Sure, but that has only become the case recently since the popularity of the cell phone. Sparticus was cast without any cell phones. Maybe this cell phone society where everybody is easily accessible and ever available isn't desirable. Maybe. I like to kick back and relax every chance I get. And this cell phone society has almost completely robbed us of that ability. (the flip into pointlessness, the techne for its own sake)

Meaningful relationship?

Lincoln: Another flaw is more of an philosophical and abstract idea. It's the idea that distance is both necessary and meaningful in our lives. The fact that when somebody is sitting in my living room there's inherently more meaning attributed to the encounter than when somebody is on the phone. Which makes a personal visit so much more valuable. Because we know how much more it cost them in time and effort to come over for a face to face visit. With the popularity of cell phones the visit is now becoming increasingly de-valued. It's easier and simpler just to call someone rather than have to go over to see them. Which starts to cheapen and erode otherwise valuable and sustainable relationships.

always at home

Lincoln: Another advantage is clearer for somebody like myself who travels often and is rarely home, it lets me stay in contact with people when I'm not at home. But the case is applicable to anybody who is out and about often. Having a cell phone means you're always "at home". This also makes distance a non-issue. It becomes easier to stay in contact with friends or loved ones who are far away from you, although I would argue that land lines are a better tool for this (actually letters are the best), because cell phones are by nature a short conversation tool. Because they're used when you're on the go and moving about. Which makes them a less than ideal tool for keeping in touch with those far away from you, because of the limited amount of attention that can be spent focusing on the conversation at hand.

ubiquity

Spidere: But I think all of this merely scratches the surface of what cell phones enhance. The capability of having instantaneous ubiquitous access to the entire world is astounding in its implications--very few aspects of our existence are untouched and unimproved. It makes almost our entire existence better, whether being able to get specific directions while driving or summon emergency services, they bring the entire world within reach, no matter where we are.

MediaTetrad.gif

This and the photo below it are the center of the proof. The tetrad of media effects shows how a new technology or medium *simultaneously* performs these four transformations on Senses, Society, and Other Media. It is best to read the tetrad in that all-at-once mode, though also possible to focus on the particularities of each node or area.

no-cell-phone-sign.jpg

Lincoln: My main problem is cell phones force one to be rude. And I don't mean they make people rude, I mean they force people to be rude. It's like saying amazing taskers force you to pay attention to them, it doesn't mean you will or you have to, but when you see the name Ink Tea or Lank or Charlie Fish under a task's praxis, you (meaning I) pay more attention and maybe open that one first. So cell phones force one to be rude. When a cell phone rings and you're with people, the owner of the phone, even if they don't answer it, still break the flow of the conversation just to look at who's calling. And more often than not they will take the call. Which almost always makes the other person feel that they aren't as important as whoever is on the other end of the phone (whether it's true or not). Either way, it's rude. It's rude to be with another human and then ignore them, or cast them aside even momentarily. The other way cell phones force you to be rude, is that they can make you lazy about missing appointments. If you're running late you can call and tell the person you're running late, which might sound like I got it backwards, because a call is a nice considerate thing to do, right? How about not being late in the first place? See, I make it a point to be where I say I'm going to be when I say I'm going to be there. Anything less is rude.

Cell Driving

Texting while driving. This is pushing the technology to its limits. Here we see somebody texting on the cell while driving, two things that take a lot of concentration to do on their own. Add them together and we have got a very distracted person. But as many times as I have seen this, I have yet to see an accident occur. Maybe I'm just lucky or maybe by pushing the technology, we as a people have become better equipped to deal with a varied amount of stimuli and still be able to function. So in effect pushing the cell phone to its limit is helping us to evolve, to expand the part of our brain that was focusing narrowly on one thing to now multitask more fluidly.

Cars

Lincoln: On the plus side the cell phone does make communication easier. Especially during times of need. One of the big contributing factors to me getting a cellular telephone was a conversation I had a year ago in which a woman I loved was telling me a story of an ex who, when she called from in her car in front of their apartment at three in the morning and asked him to come out, get in the car and ride with her for four blocks and then walk back to the apartment with her through the bad neighborhood, he declined. He said no. I told her she could have called me and even though I live ten miles away, I would have driven over and walked her home. And she told me I didn't have a cell phone. I told her I would get a phone for her. So the ability to be there for those you love is valuable. (photo originally part of Spidere's Obsolecence examples)

TXTSPEAK RETRIEVES TELEGRAMS

Charlie Fish & Burn Unit: Txtspk rtrvs telegrams. The succinct, abbreviated language of text messages harks back to a time when important messages were paid for by the word. While the method of delivery has changed, texts echo telegrams. Yet texts are more accessible - which arguably cheapens them metaphorically as well as economically. Believe it or not, you can still send telegrams, so I sent one across the Atlantic to Burn Unit to illustrate the point. This was unexpected! I got this thing in my mailbox, a letter. At first I was completely baffled, figuring it to be some kind of weird direct mail offer. Then I looked closer and saw TXTSPEAK RETRIEVES TELEGRAMS. In that moment, my heart sang because I knew Charlie was completely right. This photo was, of course, made with my cell phone.

Lincoln's JesusPhone

Show what cell phones enhance, or a way cell phones enhance or extend your body or the bodies of those around you. When pushed to its extremes what does the cell phone flip into or become which is opposite what we think it's intended or expected to do? What forgotten behaviors does the cell phone make possible again? Use the cell phone to pull forward something from our behavioral or psychological past (or psychogeographical past!) Demonstrate and test this. Show artifacts and/or facets of life that the cell phone makes obsolete. Demonstrate through action (an artwork/video/song/ photos) a cell phone caught in the act of rendering another technology obsolete. Or show the obsolesced medium/tech in its state of abject obsolescence, mourning its past glory.

Tech

...and so many other electronic assistants, now incorporated into the phone.

Pay Phone

Spidere: Obsolecence mainly deals with the sort of things that were used to reconnect us or to bring information along in a convenient form. Many of these things are no longer necessary with the cell phone. Not only the obvious placement of pay phones, nodes to reconnect us...

charlie-fish-retrieval.txt

I decided that on Sunday 6 January I would call every single person in my mobile phone. The outcome is in the text file. (I've used initials instead of people's names.)

retrieve

Lincoln: Another idea occurred to me which is that cell phones have perpetuated a sense of entitlement to somebody's time. You can rightfully expect to get somebody if you call their cell. And if they don't answer their cell, it can be assumed that the person purposefully didn't want to talk to you. Whether this assumption is right or wrong, the impression is still there. And if somebody continually doesn't answer your call, it can easily be perceived as a slight against you. And even if it's explained away with answers like "I didn't have my phone with me" or "it was turned off" an opinion is formed, either they are avoiding you or they're neglectful and absent-minded. So having a cell phone opens you up to judgement and accountability. Which is either good or bad. Depending on which side of the coin you fall.

Map

...but also portable information like maps...

Mail

...communication via letters...

Ahead of the Curve

There was another story about someone who had taken a big midterm exam, and felt like she'd failed. Because it was nearing drop date (the last day when you can drop a class without having it shown on your record), she decided to give up for the semester and submit the paperwork to drop the class without even picking up her graded exam. However, one of the other people in the fraternity was in her class, and picked up both exams, discovering that the person who had thought she was failing had actually gotten a high score. In order to prevent her friend from dropping the class unnecessarily, she ran around campus telling everyone else she met that they should pass the word along, forming a word-of-mouth tree to get a message through. Again, the current generation asks why she didn't just phone, text message, email, or IM the intended recipient, and can barely imagine a time when there was no easy way to reach someone when you didn't know where they were, and people didn't check their email even once a day because there was so little traffic.

lost-contacts-empty-lists.jpg

Charlie Fish: (retrieves) With social mobility at an all-time high, our sense of a loyalty to a tightly-knit local community is often completely destroyed. Instead, we are dispersed, moving home and job more frequently, going on holiday to different places every time, commuting further... But mobile phones allow us to retrieve this sense of community. Suddenly, everyone is on our doorstep. If you doubt that statement, speak to someone who has lost their mobile phone and they will tell you that being without their contacts is a lost and lonely place to be.

Train

Spidere: Cell phones retrieves a mode of transportation and existence which would become nonproductive (due to being cut off from the rest of the world). Traveling by train becomes much more reasonable. The fact that planes are faster was a big selling point when every moment traveling was a moment away from the rest of the world...but when the cell phone brings the world to you, you don't need to worry about speed at the cost of comfort--you bring the world with you wherever you go. And so you can travel with access to the conveniences of comfort, without losing a thing.

Sneaky Thief (Not)

We also tell them about the time some thieves came into the house through a window and stole a bunch of electronics. A shadowy figure was seen going down the fire escape and driving off in a white car. Afterwards, we heard that the neighbors had also been burgled, and some people went over to compare notes. Somehow, one of us got separated from the group and spotted a white car lurking down the street. She went over to get the license plate, but scooted off when the people in the car yelled at her. Not realizing that she had circled the block to mislead the guys in the car, we just heard shouting and then saw a white car driving away really fast, and feared that the burglars had actually kidnapped our friend. We went back to the house and called the police, who arrived to find that (1) the missing person had turned up (2) with the license plate of the suspicious car (3) the rather thick burglars had actually returned and were again lurking on the street (4) there were a bunch of electronics in the trunk of their car. Nowadays, you would just have phoned the police on your cell phone once you'd spotted a suspicious car, or maybe take a picture of the license plate with your camera phone. At the least, you could try calling your friend who had disappeared instead of panicking.

sad

Burn Unit: I was using my phone to check my bank balance when I walked by this ATM. That's when it hit me: this poor little bugger with its outrageous fees is useful only to drunks and poor planners. The rest of us don't need cash. My phone told me my balance, I knew I could use my bank card to pay for my lunch, and I put this ATM out of mind. It made me think about doing this task: I "caught all these things in the act" of *being* obsolesced by my cell phone (or cell phones in general). Then I got to thinking about that guy who tagged ads with "I keep getting mugged in my sleep" and I had the idea to put stickers on various technologies and media which I catch in the act of being obsolesced or otherwise contained by the new medium of the cell phone. On some of them I stuck "I think the cell phone is trying to kill me." and on others I put "Please don't let the cell phone eat me." This ATM is pleading to not be devoured.

Caught!

Burn Unit: These paper boxes whined at me as I walked by, reading news clips on my cell's stupid "media ticker". So I stuck the "Please don't let the cell phone eat me." stickers on them.

Rent Local

They also retrieve local access; when internet sites like craigslist make local apartment-hunting in one place, it hardly seems to make sense to go wandering the neighborhood. But if you can walk around a neighborhood and see what's available, then instantly contact the place in question...being in that place means something again. A sense of place returned.

retrieve

Retrieving the court dances at a place like Versailles, the expectation that you will conduct courtly correspondences with all, immediately...

Necessity

A more serious time was when someone's mother called the fraternity because there had been a sudden death in the family. The mother called, even though her daughter had already graduated and had her own place nearby, because it was a weekend night and her daughter wasn't home and she had no idea how to reach her and she thought we might be able to help. All of us who were home got together and pooled information. We knew she had gone to a movie and that the movie might be letting out and we knew where she lived. Several groups went out looking or camped out at strategic locations, and we did find her, so she wasn't alone when she got the news. Although I think that this situation wouldn't happen now-a-days, because your family would just call you on your cell phone, I'm not sure that's a good thing. The need to mobilize friends to track you down is obsolete, but the advent of personal phones means that your family won't ever chat with your housemates when they answer the phone in your absence, and that people don't need to take down phone messages for each other, or share the use of a single phone line. Inconvenience is now obsolete, but something useful has also been lost.

Don't Split the Party

At least once a year, the alums of my fraternity get together with the pledges and tell them stories about funny or interesting things that happened during our own college years. Recently, I have noticed that the ubiquity of cell phones has made some of these narratives seem obsolete because the situations they describe do not make sense in a cell-phone enabled world. For example, we used to run an annual activity called road rallye where groups of people would divide up into different vehicles. Each team had a written instructions set with instructions to take them to a number of interesting places where they had to look around and find answers to various questions posed in the instructions. The car with the most right answers and the most exact mileage and the coolest team name would be declared the winner. Each year, someone would volunteer to write the road rallye instructions and feature different destinations. One year, the instructions indicated that half the team should proceed on foot while the other half of the team drove off in the vehicle. Although the intent was that the two subgroups would be brought back together again, many teams decided that splitting the party was too much of a bad idea, at night in an unfamiliar place, and rebelled against the instructions. These days, the students have a hard time imagining that once upon a time, if you split the party, there was no longer any way to communicate, and that there was a real possibility that you might keep missing each other all night.

Caught gettin obsolesced

"I think the cell phone is trying to kill me." I printed up a whole sheet of these labels, thirty of them. And stuck them around.

what time is it?

The next time you ask someone what time it is, what do they do? Do they look at their wrist, or reach for their hip? It's a stone simple gesture, but the obviousness should not be ignored. The cell phone reaches right back into our media past and retrieves the pocket watch!

and while we're on the subject of reaching for the hip...

The cell phone retrieves for us the the wild wild west. Placed in a holster for quick draw access, the cell returns a sense of the romance of the free operative, roaming the world and ready for action.

cell phone gives you slack

so. very. bound.

The pay phone has this man Literally Chained to a Wall Behind a CAGE.

But but I thought this was NEW?!?

This iPod ad got a Please don't let the cell phone eat me sticker because Apple is abetting the iPhone's devouring of the iPod! "If it works, it's obsolete" [HMM: Understanding Media, 1964]

notes on media ecology

A little something extra, food for thought by the wonderful Em Griffin