There are lots of prospectively disturbing things about mobile culture, so I will launch this conversation with something personal that scares me silly. I’m a cycle commuter, and I can attest to the fact that despite several years of fines being in place for distracted driving, a disturbingly large portion of humanity can’t resist texting, talking & browsing while at the wheel. I appreciate the meaning of “only connect” (E.M. Forster – Howard’s End), but not “all the time”. If I live long enough there will likely be safe solutions for this problem, but I’m convinced they will be technological – I don’t think we humans can tame our behaviour.
Please continue with your pet peeves about the behaviours, lifestyles, expectations and social phenomena related to mobility, trying now to elaborate on their broader cultural meaning.
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I’m most disturbed by society’s move towards mobile requirements. While convenient for some, the shift towards a fully digital society can leave behind those who don’t have access to technology or the internet, such as the elderly or people experiencing homelessness. As society move to paperless and cashless, mobile phones are increasing being assumed to be the status quo, such as need to scan QR codes for information about public transit for example.
What disturbs me about mobile technology is similar to the topic of presence. Technology is consistently being formed around participation culture, and that it is built to be addictive and attractive in nature, that causes us to lose attention and human connection in many ways that are detrimental to generational connection. The frequency in which discrepancies between generations (i.e. Millenials vs. Gen Z, Boomers vs. Gen Y), in which give rise to ageisms that cause split and conflict between people that are not conducive to bridging social extremisms that exist today (such as foreign policies on the Israeli-Palestinian conflicts, or Conservative and Liberal views).
For example many people struggle to understand today that China no longer truly operates as a ‘communistic’ country, and that to some degree, is socialistic and capitalistic in many ways that would baffle the stereotypical North American viewpoint or understanding of China.
What disturbs me the most about mobile cultures how easily addictive our mobile devices has become and how ‘doom scrolling’ has become such a big part of everyone’s lives as a way to ‘zone out’, turn off our brain for a second and relax. But does it really relax the mind? Does it do more harm than good? The endless scroll through an abyss of anxiety-inducing news, catastrophes, and controversies. What’s truly unnerving is how easily we get sucked into this vortex of doom, as if we’re compelled to witness every tragedy unfold in real-time, no matter the toll it takes on our mental well-being. Not only the news, but also social media, reels and apps like TikTok. What’s perhaps most disturbing is how normalized this behavior has become. We joke about it, meme about it, but underneath the humor lies a sense of unease. Are we becoming desensitized to the suffering of others, or are we simply seeking refuge from our own existential anxieties in the chaos of the world?
I wholeheartedly agree with this! Not just doom scrolling but also how much value is placed on likes, views, and streaks. Instant gratification has taken over and impacted long-term happiness and satisfaction, not to mention contributing to the rise of attention challenges. With so much at our fingertips, what are we missing from learning how to be bored, or learning how to sit in stillness without the plethora of stimulation coming our way. What impact does that have on the developing brain? I have seen more ADHD diagnoses come across my desk in the last 3 years than ever before. Can that be connected to cellphone usage and mobile culture?
With that said, I will probably submit this and go scroll TikTok and Instagram while watching another series on Netflix.
In addition to driver distraction, algorithmic haunting, decreased attention spans, social media addiction, electrical availability assumptions, critical keyboard behavior, manufactured need for stimulation, connection, and attention, as well as the financial and ecological costs of mobile culture, the main disturbance I share with cohorts past and present is the abundance of incredible, unreliable, and unverified misinformation, false information, and microbits of information. As a dedicated lifelong student of formal and informal educational institutions, it is frustrating to hear millennial individuals professing expertise after spending a night or two binge watching online videos and ranking personal blogs of eccentric creators. Not only do these habits manifest the Dunning-Kruger Effect (those who know least think they know most), but they also heighten voices of the few rather than highlighting the needs of the many. I am not saying there are no benefits to short-term, digital learning in a busy, every-changing world. In fact, I absolutely agree that there are increasing informal means through which to gain microcredentials that challenge the traditional educational institution. Unfortunately, not many of them have not passed through the gateways of authority, affiliation and reputation required to warrant certification of applicable knowledge to individuals to apply to tangible problems. This is highly concerning in a world whose 20th century sociocultural, environmental, and engineering infrastructure is crumbling and no one is around to see the signs of decay or replace it when it falls.
What disturbs me about mobile culture is this inherent need to capture things on camera or video, rather than experiencing it with my own eyes.
The last time I was at a tourist attraction, the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, I think I stared at it for less than 10 seconds, before I reached for my phone to start taking pictures. At one point, I took a moment to look around and in every direction there were people trying to capture photos at the ‘perfect angle’ with the best shot of the bridge in the background.
Are we ruining our experiences by too often looking at things through our cameras? Does this culture of taking photos of videos contribute to our enjoyment? Are we doing it to share socially afterwards and show/prove our life experiences? Are we doing it because we fear we will not remember otherwise?
Very accurate – concertgoers are the worst offenders for this. We now occasionally see phones banned at concert events, and although this can be for intellectual property purposes prioritized by the performing artist, it also alleviates that sea of people watching an entire show through the display of a phone screen. I think the impulse to capture these moments and events, is engrained as a badge of proof which has been around as long as we have had portable film cameras. Snapping photos has always been part of our collective practice for memory preservation. I think the divergence has been in the culture of filming EVERYTHING and literally experiencing life in real-time through the screen.
Right, good points. The advancements in storage capabilities have also contributed to this culture of filming everything. I recall using a film camera and having to be very intentional with what I capture. Now, I take duplicates (or more!) of the same object or event, acting as if storage is free and endless.
What disturbs me about mobile culture is the algorithms learning your passions and interests quickly and dictating what you might want to purchase on Amazon, where you would like to travel, and where you might go out for dinner next. When I scroll through TikTok, it shows me trendy must-buy items for teachers, affordable yet amazing vacation destinations, and newly opened restaurants in my neighbourhood. Surprisingly, I have never informed TikTok that I’m an elementary teacher who loves travelling and trying out new restaurants, but somehow TikTok has figured this out, probably based on the reels I’ve watched or searched. I do not even have an account on TikTok and don’t follow any users. When I look at my Instagram “for you” page, I always question if the app was listening to my conversations with other people. I recently started taking golf lessons, and it was scary to see all the golf reels on my Instagram page. I am probably feeding these algorithms with information about my interests all the time in many different ways without realizing it. It is both impressive and unsettling how these algorithms discern my interests and passions, making suggestions that could potentially shape my shopping habits, travel destinations, and dining choices.
This is honestly terrifying.
One day I was walking down the yogurt isle, picked up a certain type of yogurt and then not 15 minutes later I got an advertisement for that yogurt on my phone. I never said a word about it and didn’t have my phone out. It’s terrifying what type of tracking exists and I wonder how stores are playing into this?
One thing that concerns me is the widely accepted assumption regarding people’s dwindling attention spans and how this affects mobile experiences. App designers create tools that encourage us to share micro-content. I think this is more because it is easier to make shorter content and consuming it doesn’t eat up our data plans, and less because we have somehow evolved to prefer these bite-sized experiences. Then instructional designers follow suit, citing learners’ decreased attention spans as a reason to create ever shorter chunks of learning. But… these same attention-deficient learners and mobile users are just as likely to binge watch hours of a streaming series, for example, and novels are still being read. So are people’s attention spans really shrinking, or is the benefit of brevity for mobile experience designers and consumer making this seem to be true?
What disturbs me most about mobile phone culture is the constant need to be stimulated. Many people do not experience genuine boredom anymore. With our mobile phones, we no longer sit in awkward silence or look outside on the bus as we are glued to our phones. When teaching and I am transitioning with technology (example: setting up the projector or waiting for something to load), my students often take out their phones to look at TikTok, and then I have to once again regain their attention.
Personally, within the last year, I had recently downloaded TikTok and found myself spending many of the pauses throughout my day on it. But after a couple of months, I found it harder to watch movies without getting bored. Eventually, I deleted TikTok and Instagram and have noticed my attention span has noticeably come back.
This is an excellent point. The inability to be bored or have patience permeates modern culture. I put on a show for my students one time and now they cannot complain if they do not get one at lunch. Additionally, they whine whenever lunch is over and I turn the show off. This also results in an inability to just think and think, brainstorm, or immerse oneself in the creative process. It is a dangerous world when you cannot entertain yourself and you need a device to keep your mind occupied. After all, where would the world be without shower thoughts?
What disturbs me about mobile culture is our expectation that all of our power consumption will be met. In Canada and the US, most people expect all of our demands on the power grid to be met without ever thinking twice about it. This prompt reminded me of the consumption of energy by mining Bitcoin. Bitcoin mining consumes .55% of our global electricity production. This equals Malaysia’s or Sweden’s yearly consumption (Carter, 2021). I believe it says a lot about our consumer culture, especially when one considers how fossil fuels are used to generate this electricity.
Carter, Nic. May 5, 2021. https://hbr.org/2021/05/how-much-energy-does-bitcoin-actually-consume#:~:text=According%20to%20the%20Cambridge%20Center,countries%20like%20Malaysia%20or%20Sweden.
This reminds me of a story.
It was 2003, I had just finished my first undergraduate degree in English, History and Anthropology at Trent University and, not yet knowing what I wanted to do and lacking the experience to use my bachelor degree, I got a job bartending at The Only Cafe in Peterborough, Ontario (shout out through ether and back eons to Jerome!)
In August, I was working at the cafe when the Great North American Blackout struck:
https://www.cbc.ca/archives/the-great-north-america-blackout-of-2003-1.4683696
Being so close in proximity to the September 11 attacks, we all suspected terrorism immediately. Turns out, 50 million people lost power for 29 hours causing USD $6 billion in financial loss due to the shutdown of an Ohio electrical plant that triggered a chain reaction across multiple other plants. Digital forensics investigations determined a technical glitch that did not communicate was the culprit.
I wonder how much electrical power was being used by personal digital mobile devices in 2003 versus the readers’ today? Until humans innovate renewable energy usage, I’m gonna take a wild guess and say it was much, much less! Is there a way to motivate users to use less?
What is the best way to alert individuals to the need to measure personal social media usage in a manner that outranks corporate interests? Digital audience measurement (https://www.ipsos.com/en-ca/digital-audience-measurement) usually prioritizes the latter at the expense of our personal data. What series of physical-cum-digital events, like the 2003 blackout, will give more impetus to individuals over institutions?
There are a few things that disturb me about mobile culture a few of which have been mentioned but another one that came to mind is the link between mobile culture and the environment. The use of mobile devices and the urge to have the newest and fastest phone to engage in mobile culture has environmental impacts that I don’t think are considered. The phone use itself has a relatively small energy footprint but the infrastructure connected to mobile devices (cloud storage, wireless base stations etc) uses and wastes a large amount of energy. This then coupled with the the need to have the newest and greatest phone can create a lot of waste and the mining practices for battery elements such as lithium have further reaching environmental implications.
Hi Meagan, I completely agree with your comment. As mobile devices become common, and companies profit by updating their products annually, encouraging users to buy newer devices frequently, I don’t think consumers realize the amount of waste this is creating. Additionally, not enough people are recycling their devices properly, and precious metals are not mined adquately from used devices, creating environmental impacts that are hard to imagine for future generations as this trend continues. I’ve read this article last year and I was truly shocked of the invisible environmental damage mobile (or other electronic) devices are causing: https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-63245150.
Regardless of the many benefits of mobile culture, one thing that concerns me is the potential risk of algorithms and how it could bias one’s opinion, especially when it comes to controversial issues. Now that mobile technologies are almost inseparable and as many have mentioned are collecting huge amount of data for “convinience”, everything is becoming very personalized based on these gathered data. Once one starts watching or researching about certain topic, it will quickly suggest other related content to that person. In addition, the person will be exposed to others commenting on that subject in various different ways and often they may be critical. I fear that people practicing critical thinking skills only focus on one side of the story, refusing to listen to others, which often leads to two extreme end rather than a healthy and understanding discussion.
I agree that the involvement of algorithms suggesting similar content to users about certain topics can become precarious! I have noticed how interacting with content, even one post or for a short period of time, can impact the suggested content which is featured on my feed. It makes me wonder how little new information some folks are being exposed to.
I truly think that the most disturbing thing of mobile culture is how incredibly addictive it has become. Students get anxiety if they don’t have time on their phones. I think someone else posted about nomophobia, and even though as teachers we are not qualified to say that a student has a cellphone addiction, sometimes it is just bloody obvious!
The ugly realities of engineers needing to be paid for the work that they do, to have bugs fixed, new features added, etc., have led to the necessity of choosing one of two evils: subscription-based access to apps, or data-mined targeted advertising. What bugs me most is that when one has chosen to pay for the service, that your data is often still mined and exploited for the commercial benefit of others.
Hi all,
One thing that disturbs me about using mobile phones, is that people tend to learn a lot of false information due to the massive amount of information they get quick access to. The algorithms suggest more and more videos based on what you have watched or clicked or searched. If anyone can post material without restrictions of age, knowledge or ethics the consequences are not the best. For example, when people are not happy in a relationship, they relate it to the “narcissism of their partner”. They suddenly become able to decide how to diagnose the other person based on a huge amount of videos about “narcissism” although this condition needs to be identified by a professional. I don’t mind learning new things and becoming educated but people should be careful and have wisdom when they pick the information they use.
What disturbs me about mobile culture is the plausible fact that we are trading privacy for convenience. Most people cannot be sure if the data is being collected via their phone when entering a password or personal information or searching anything using a browser. Most of the time, we are too lazy to explore the data-collecting principles or read the privacy policy when using a new APP or system. As time passes, we become increasingly numb about providing private info on our phones without even having a second thought. Our phones gather various data, including the places we’ve ever been, things we’ve told Siri or searched on Google, our passwords, and even our message conversations. However, most of us still think it’s okay because our lives have become much easier with the convenience of mobiles.
I 100% agree! It is scary how much our mobile usage is being commodified.
What I find disturbing about mobile culture is the ever present need to capture moments as photos, or increasingly as video. Don’t get me wrong, I love photos – taking them, looking back on them, recalling past experiences so they continue to live on in my memory – but I’m concerned for the volume of people who experience the majority of an event or experience through their phone. Looking around a concert recently, many people didn’t hardly put their phones away and watched most of the show through their camera lens. Another example is the need to have an elaborate photoshoot with our food before we can try it. Again, I’m all for a quick picture of something remarkable, and but I really want to enjoy my food at it’s prime – as soon as it comes out of the kitchen. As a society in general, we seem to be more concerned about have proof that we attended an event or experienced something, rather than authentically experiencing it in the moment.
Hi Lynsey, I’ve heard some bands are refusing to play if attendees have their phones out!
I appreciate how you articulated this point about “proof.” With the prevalence of smartphones, people have easy access to cameras and the internet, making it easy to document and share experiences. People want to share their experiences with others and want to be recognized for their adventures. Social media has created a culture of validation where people seek approval from likes and comments on their posts. As a result, people feel the desire to document and share their experiences and to present themselves in a certain way to receive this social validation from their peers. What’s most disturbing about this cultural shift is that people are searching for external rather than internal affirmation (especially youth). Also problematic is that these posters typically express themselves positively and in idealistic ways – always going to eat, photos with beauty filters on etc. This creates an unrealistic image of what their life is like, which can leave others t be comparing themselves to these utopian lives others seemingly leed. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/understand-other-people/201602/seeking-validation-online-doesn-t-bring-real-happiness
I have heard of a trend where people are posting the Instagram version versus the real version. https://www.insider.com/influencers-instagram-vs-reality-side-by-side-photos-real-life-2019-9#:~:text=The%20%22Instagram%20versus%20reality%22%20trend%20started%20as%20a,breaking%20up%20the%20perfection%20on%20your%20Instagram%20feed.
Absolutely! And the new trend of filming and then posting yourself having a mental breakdown… not just irritating, but makes me wonder why it is being filmed. What is the point behind posting those?
Linsey, your post resonates with me. With the rise of “influencers” promoting a world view that one needs constant proof of one’s activities to share with the world. Is this a search for validation of one’s lived life? Are we just “keeping up with the Joneses” in a digital way? There are documented cases of spectacular, yet fragile natural ecosystems that are incurring damage after one influential Instagram post is made from this spot; the post leads to a rush of copycat instagrammers, and people adding the site to their bucket lists (which all have to be documented, of course). I wonder how many people who visit sites of true natural beauty actually really see it for sake of seeing, or if they have become just another commodity to be collected and traded (for views, likes, or dollars).
Feeling like privacy is becoming harder to attain would be a disappointing aspect of mobile culture, particularly the impact of mobile cameras. Mobile cameras certainly are awesome in that they allow us to capture our memories, but it also feels like we are always being watched and people use it for negative intentions like bullying. People are able to record and capture images of their surroundings, regularly with mobile devices, then save, store or share it. This can happen even without the knowledge of the individual. People record others without their consent in public places, often hoping to capture mistakes or failures of others, as this will enhance their social media account followings. If someone made a mistake in the schoolyard and a group of students were teasing them, they would point and laugh. Now, students can not only point and laugh, but record others, share with a larger audience and laugh without the person evening knowing. All with the bully remaining anonymous.
What breaks my heart is how parents themselves sometimes use their own children to increase or gain a following on social media, capturing them sometimes in their weakest or most unpleasant moments or even more disturbing causing these moments themselves! This is a new scary level of exploiting vulnerable individuals who sadly have no privacy or respect at all, especially from their parents…I shudder thinking about the consequences of this particularly on the mental health of those kids. Another type is the parents who force their kids to be the ”stars” of their online content. Just imagine a child living in such an environment growing up to care way too much about validation from strangers, and suffering identity crises as most of what they do or present is what the audiences want and demand…
One thing that disturbs me about mobile culture is the willingness with which people will share all aspects of their personal life online. With the emergence of social media, people often thoughtlessly share photos of their homes, families, and lives. This may seem harmless, but there are individuals who seek to take advantage of this information for their own gain, such as burglarizing houses of individuals who post about their whole families being on vacation. It is more crucial than ever to have critical thinking skills when working with mobile technologies, but people demonstrate a distinct lack of those exact skills.
Hi Braden, I hear you. I could easily name a few scenarios when browsing someone’s social media channel, and feeling that “oh, she’s promoted, good for her! But where I’m at?” Or “I ate too much junk food now I feel so guilty but hey, my friend so-and-so just posted a couple of photos of her healthy diet and work-out. I feel even worse now.” Sometimes it’s not a matter of them posting things, it might have more to do with us how to interpret these information. Naturally, people would compare themselves with others. For mental wellness purposes, I suggest less screen time and more focused time. What that means is the social media world can wait, late response doesn’t mean the end of the world. But your mental wellness matters more.
What bothers me the most is phone addiction. I don’t know when exactly have I developed this hobby of constantly checking my phone even when there are no notifications. The first thing I do when I wake up is to reach for my phone, and the last thing before falling asleep is also randomly browsing digital content on smartphones. It wasn’t until I take a couple of MET courses then I realize the mechanism of how and why phones keep us hyper-focused yet easily distracted. By the time I learned Artificial Intelligence and persuasion technology, I feel like I view social media content and news content more critically now.
Yes – sometimes I’ve caught myself picking up the phone to see if there’s something new after a couple of seconds of having done the same thing, knowing that there was going to be nothing! I understand there’s a whole biochemical explanation to it, as we can become addicted to the chemicals that our brain releases when we experience sensorial stimulation.
I sometimes joke about it, “it’s the first world problem”. We are privileged to access tons of information almost anywhere and anytime, as long as the digital device and WIFI are working properly. Now that brings up the conversation about maintaining the technological balance like we expressed above.
If we turn the conversation to another end. What if we consider the disadvantaged regions in Africa, and in underdeveloped areas of the world that still struggles with clean water and electricity. The majority of people may not have the literacy to read and receive information in another language. Moreover, there is not as much available content in their language. Or in the worst-case scenario, they don’t have written language. Does that mean their culture or language is not worth spreading? No! The bigger question is how we as global citizens help one another thrive. Eduardo, are you aware of any projects that are dedicated to supporting technological development in disadvantaged areas. I’m keen to hear your perspectives on that. Thank you!
Right! A first-world problem. It is amazing to the issues that come up in societies once they have the survival part covered up. I remember reading somewhere that rates of mental illness, depression, stress, and use of medication are much higher in developed countries because communities that are focused on survival don’t have time to experience some of these first-world problems, which are subtler and more complex. Vera, the case scenario you describe and the question you ask brought to my mind how, in recent years, there have been more incentives to tackle the problem of language and content. For example, I understand that more material is being developed in Quechua, which is the co-official language. Google recently announced they’re adding 24 new languages to Google translate, among them Quechua. Language is such an important part of a culture that I would say that incorporating language into technologies is a big step for development. Of course, we would also have to consider other issues, particularly accessibility.
One thing that disturbs me the most about mobile culture is the popularity contest of devices. I commonly hear my students talking about how “cool” someone is for having the latest iPhone, and vice versa, those who are uncool for having an old iPhone, or even because of being an Android user. I worry that my students who I know come from a low socio economic family, will think less of themselves for not having the latest device or even a device at all. This is why I limit mobile devices in my classroom and ensure that when we do bring them out with the privilege of listening to music, it is important to share and consider others. I want to ensure everyone feels that they have the adequate tools to learn within my class, therefore, I am strict about my device policy during class time.
Hi Megan,
When my children were growing up, my husband and I didn’t buy everything they wanted in terms of technology, but we did eventually cave in and purchase a Nintendo for playing Mario Cart. I think that mobiles have a place in classrooms for children using accessibility features or looking up information. Mobile device ownership is becoming a reality for even younger children (I don’t necessarily agree with this). It may be an opportunity to teach online citizenship, critical thinking, and research skills. As students share with others, those without mobiles could still learn about the technology so that when they do acquire one, they will be prepared for how to use it. There could be rules about use while in the classroom that the children could help develop, encouraging buy-in. When I was growing up, clothing, physical attributes, and socioeconomic status were deciding factors for what or who was ‘cool’ in some students’ views. I wasn’t cool by those standards, but I turned out OK anyway!
Hi Tamaka!
It is crazy to see how many of our grade 6 students have a mobile device. At the beginning of the school year, we asked how many students (in an auditorium) had a cell phone and about 95% of the grade 6 students raised their hands. You are right, I think now that more younger students have cell phones, it is important to teach them how to do that properly, especially in terms to online safety. Again, you are right as I remember certain articles of clothing making one more popular than the other!
What disturbs me is always having a phone with a flash or simply in front of you when you attend a show or go dancing in a club. When I’m on the dance floor and the electronic music transports me, I’m sweaty and in my bubble, and suddenly, next to me, a person takes several selfies with flash, it completely ruins my mood. As @eduardo says, can we just enjoy the moment? I believe that all clubs should be inspired by Berlin, in Germany. Systematically, at the entrance to a club, two stickers are placed on everyone’s mobile devices. It is forbidden to take photos at the risk of being kicked out. Believe me, it completely changes the dynamic and mood for the better. It is this mobile culture trend that should be the new normal.
What disturbs me about mobile culture is that texting can be fraught with misunderstandings. If I text someone without an emoji to confirm my state of mind, some people I know assume I may be unhappy. I can speak to people on the phone (it hardly ever happens now) or over a meeting app and easily convey joy, calmness, or polite inquisitiveness. Although I may not see the receiver’s body language during my communication on the phone, I can tell a lot from someone’s voice, inflections, and silences. Emojis are here to stay- we can never go back.
Hi Tamaka. Yes, good point. And the interesting is that this varies among people. There are some people who use lots of emoticons to convey an emotional tone and that’s helpful. I’ve found some people that barely use them and can seem cold, yet when you interact with them they are very kind and pleasant. This has helped me to don’t take ïnexpressive” messages the wrong way and, surprisingly, they look even friendlier.
This is a great point, Tamaka. Too many times have I found myself in situations having to explain what I really meant by a text. I remember asking if my mom was mad at me because her texts lacked expression, punctuation, and emojis. She was baffled to think that I thought her short texts were because she was supposedly upset with me. I know this can cause a lot of stress for those who are over thinkers. I sometimes create scenarios in my head waiting for a reply back from someone, hoping it will be filled with mobile enthusiasm.
Megan’s Mother exemplifies the great divide between users and non users, of any generation: that is, the digital literacy and jargon required to understand text language acronyms , emojis, memes and other virtual artifacts of a digitally communicative culture.
Hi Tamaka, you have a good point that how people may interpret emojis differently. I wouldn’t say emojis are all confusing, but I would agree that using emojis inappropriately is likely to hinder communication, particularly in multicultural contexts. What are some common confusions you’d get from using emojis? Let me share one. When I text a smile emoji ???? to someone, it may mean that I am upset and I don’t continue the conversation. Instead of commenting anything further, I choose to fake a smile to get this conversation over with. It is a widely known texting communication in my culture. Fascinating isn’t it?
Hi Zheng,
Yes, texting across cultures would add another layer of complexity to communications. It would be very interesting to create an emoji handbook for different cultures to become a culturally competent emoji-communicator!
Thanks Tamaka. In return, would you be willing to share an emoji story with me? Anything! I’m interested to know.
What disturbs me about mobile culture is how cameras trick you into capturing pictures instead of enjoying the moment. Of course, pictures are great as they allow us to share our experiences with others or encapsulate a joyful moment. However, I’ve noticed that sometimes I am walking in nature, amazed by the beauty that surrounds me and, without even thinking about it, I take the phone out to take pictures. Then I realize I have stepped out from truly enjoying a wonderful moment!
I agree! When I go to concerts to see my favorite bands, I see a bunch of mobile devices instead, I am already short-ish and I need to stand on my toes to see, so sometimes I just give up and watch the band playing from someone else’s phone while recording. 🙂
That’s good – you get to enjoy the concert! And yes, it’s true, this also applies to video recording in concerts, sports, etc. I guess the logic is that people want to capture how things looked from their point of view, because most likely there is a professional AV team recording the whole thing and that could be accessed in the future!
What disturbs me the most when it comes to mobile culture is the impatience it can cause in people. Often times I have been criticized by friends for not responding quick enough to text messages when I was either at work or out with someone else at an event where I could not/did not want to use my device (movie, concert, restaurant, etc.). I think instant gratification is something that comes along with mobile culture. My students even have a hard time if the internet is being slow or “lagging” and they cannot wait for a webpage to load.
Hi Sonia. Good observation. I think the key here is that impatient people understand that texting is both synchronous and asynchronous, and there even are variations among these. For example, you can have a synchronous conversation in which responses are as fast as in face-to-face communication; or a synchronous conversation in which responses take place every minute or so. Perhaps this is the reason why status where created, although I think these are not used or considered greatly.
I second your thought Sonia. Sometimes I read the message and thought I had replied to it, while in fact, I did not. That’s why I try to keep update with all incoming emails and work-related messages the moment I see them. Otherwise, I’ll probably forget about them instantly. What has helped you to keep up with all digital communications? One thing that I find helpful is to mark it as unread and come back to it whenever possible.
Zheng, I completely agree. I am someone who has to deal with something right away otherwise it leaves my mind and so I have also had this same issue.
Yes, Sonia, you are on-point. Apps like Snapchat, with its ethereal, time-limited modality, have pushed the demand for immediacy into so many facets of our lives. “Why haven’t you called me back” has evolved into “Why haven’t you texted/messaged me back”. It’s called a text _message_ because it is simply that, a message. Not all messages need replies, especially as tools that show if messages were viewed are available. One simple message of “I will be there in five minutes” sent using voice recognition in your Car Play, seems always to be followed by another distracting message of “ok” or similar.
Zheng mentions above the power of marking things as “unread” when they are important and “reply-worthy” (those of a certain age may recognize the riff off of “sponge-worthy”). I have been doing that with emails for some time (the “show only unread messages” tool being very useful), and doing so in other messaging apps has proved equally useful as a time-management tool.
One of the biggest peeves I have is the ability for our mobile devices to track our interests and recommend targeted adverts based on what we say. Maybe I just finished discussing about lawnmowers or BBQ stoves with a friend and once I check my social media feeds afterwards, I’m bombarded by commercials about lawnmowers. Sure this can come in handy at times but it just feels kind of creepy to know our personal interests/needs are being tracked on such an intricate level.
I agree John. I remember one time I was sitting with a friend in a class and she was talking to me about a YouTube video she had watched about a teacher and I had my laptop near me. The next day that video appeared on my recommended videos to watch even though I had not seen it ever before.
I have experienced this many times and you’re right it is creepy. I have the best explanation video for this here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwTmHNt-IG8.
I think this is the price that we have to pay for a personalized mobile device.
What disturbs me about mobile culture is the ease with which people can be critical behind a keyboard. How they critique each other, and call out ideas saying they are a ‘woke’ culture, but really it is not something they would ever say or criticize if they were sitting face to face. Everyone feels they have a right to comment on someone else’s situation.
What disturbs me about technology is the ease in targeting the vulnerable and manipulating them. I recently watched “Cyber Hell” and the ease it is to hack into someone’s phone or obtain their personal info to blackmail them for money or sexual content to then continuously blackmail them, really instills fear in me as well as disturbs me. This leads me to also feel that the lack of protection and privacy also disturbs me.
That really is a problem. We’ve all made mistakes, especially when we were younger, but I didn’t have the misfortune of having my mistakes remain on the internet for the rest of time. There’s blackmail on a bigger scale, but even on a smaller scale if someone gets access to your personal things or even if exes or people who are no longer your friends decide to use something against you. It’s pretty scary.
What disturbs me is how the existence of smartphones has made it nearly impossible to idly sit or stand in public without feeling like a psychopath. Next time you’re out having a meal with someone, wait until they have to go to the bathroom, then try to not reach for your phone. If you somehow make it past that impossible hurdle, now try to occupy yourself for a few minutes without feeling like an utter lunatic or someone that’s overtly trying to prove they’re not attached their mobile device.
One thing that disturbs me about mobile culture is the growing e-waste and complicity of mobile companies that further this. I personally find it ridiculous that companies release a new generation of phones with a tiny camera upgrade or increased size, incentivizing others to purchase new. Although some may take advantage of the phone exchange deals, not everyone will, and that contributes to the electronic waste that fills up the world. It’s a complicated problem. Companies make money because people still buy. I think it would take an attitude shift to make change happen.
As someone whose life was dramatically changed by a distracted driver, that too is certainly one of my disturbances with mobile culture. The other big disturbance for me is that our devices now seem to be listening. If you’ve been talking about red boots, then suddenly you begin to see red boot ads pop up everywhere. While retargeting ads from our conversations are an intrusive, what worries me more here is who else aside from ads are listening? And how is the information they gather from you stored?
What disturbs me most about mobile culture is the prevalence of discourse echo chambers. With the ability to filter out communities and opinions we disagree with, as well as the continuation of algorithmic viewing patterns, we as social and mobile consumers are either continually restricting our worldview or are having similar worldviews fed to us. This can lead to a restriction of critical thinking, as it generates an almost built-in confirmation bias for our own opinions. Thanks to the algorithms implemented by facebook, reddit, and other similar mobile social media platforms, we as consumers don’t even need to actively filter out dissenting opinions and worldviews, the platforms themselves will do it for us. The same can be said for google search patterns and the ability to restrict what we consume in daily media and even academic circles, as we can filter through different journal articles or academic sources until we find a series of documents that confirm our already extant notions which in turn confirms our beliefs without ever challenging them.
The discourse echo chambers arising from those algorithmic filters mentioned can also be experienced from the machine learning and text mining used for the mobile predictive text option. The predictive text function definitely facilitates crafting the input of the text with a simple tap of the offered up words. However, it is common to experience the Cupertino Effect when the message does not reflect what was meant to be said. Perhaps more importantly, the offered suggestions prescribe grammatical rules, wordings, and thoughts reinforcing societal standards. Reflecting only societal norms further entrenches like-mindedness and societal divides.
What disturbs me about mobile culture is the prevalence of bandwagoning. This is something even I am guilty of myself; sometimes, I will watch a video or see a picture and have a positive reaction to it, but after reading a majority of negative comments on it I will change my mind to reflect the comments I just read. This relates to the spread of misinformation as well. If everyone around you holds and shares a certain opinion, chances are you will adopt that opinion too, no matter how illogical or unreasonable it may be. Humans are social creatures who are easily influenced by those around them in a subconscious effort to be included, and bandwagoning is apart of human nature that mobile culture has made all the more toxic.
Hi Tasneem,
Thank you for this; concise and well-articulated.
In my humble opinion, band wagon effect is the very reason for the “like” wars. Users see a comment with a high number of “likes” and they automatically have a higher propensity to like that comment; sometimes without even fully reading it. As someone who has a business background, I can confirm that band wagon effect is critical when designing sales/marketing strategies. In fact, research shows that items that are showing as being sold rapidly (e.g., on e-commerce websites) tend to get an accelerated rate of purchase, since customers automatically want what everyone else is buying.
Great post; thank you.
Saeid
Saeid, I decided to down-vote your post simply out of principle. But I really do agree with it.
Tasneem, you are correct in pointing out the idea of “bandwagoning”. Another term would be “groupthink”. According to Kenton (2020), groupthink is a phenomenon that occurs when a group of individuals reaches a consensus without critical reasoning or evaluation of the consequences or alternatives. Groupthink is based on a common desire not to upset the balance of a group of people. This desire creates a dynamic within a group whereby creativity and individuality tend to be stifled to avoid conflict. (https://www.investopedia.com/terms/g/groupthink.asp). There are some excellent articles by Harvard Business Review on Groupthink and Unconcious Bias. Both topics are very interesting when looking to put together teams or groups to work on projects.
I agree that most humans cannot tame their behaviour in relation to mobile device use. Whether it be while driving in a car, using a phone while feeding a baby, or going to the washroom. I believe that the root of the issue is addiction. From a young age, many toddlers and youth are exposed to the endorphin-releasing bells and whistles of a mobile phone, tablet, computer, or video game. A huge culture shift would need to take place to eradicate this, a process that would take generations most likely. The largest pet peeve that I have with mobile culture is prioritizing communication on a device over a human standing in the same room. Culturally, we have become desensitized to the fact that it is rude and insensitive to ignore or minimize interactions with another human in our presence. Coming closely in second place is the cultural expectation that a text or email should be answered immediately. Despite the conveniences of immediate communication with today’s mobile culture, I believe there was more thoughtfulness put into communication in the days of landline phones and letters.
I agree that there is a cultural expectation that text messages and email should be answered immediately. I used to think that if a friend didn’t answer my messages immediately is because they are mad at me. But if my parents don’t answer me immediately, that is okay. How strange is that thought?
With my previous job, I had a work cell phone and sometimes I would receive work emails as late as 11pm. I felt like I had a responsibility to answer that email because my manager was working at that hour. Until I was told that I don’t have to respond to emails and usually there is an understood rule that emails should be replied within 48 hours.
I agree that the nature of mobile technology has impacted society from a negative perspective when it comes to manners and niceties. Mobile devices have become an easy babysitter to keep a child occupied which may also impact their ability or willingness to interact with others when out in public. That said, are TVs any different? My parents would let us watch Saturday morning cartoons to keep us occupied and we were glued to the TV virtually from the moment we walked in from school. Where families may have gathered to watch TV together there was no socializing. How is that different than a family in the same room but watching different shows on their mobile devices?
As a society, we do need to do a better job of defining norms that are accepted and not accepted. It’s rude to talk over each other in a conversation so I would agree that it is rude to have your nose in your mobile device while someone is trying to have a conversation with you. From a corporate perspective, I agree that we need to ensure it is clear to employees what is expected or not. Each company will have its own culture in this regard where many will have and allow a 9-5pm requirement for accessibility. Entrepreneurial companies, or perhaps a company whose leader has an entrepreneurial mindset may have a different set of expectations. These expectations should be based on seniority and role. Juniors should not feel obligated to jump unless there is a crisis. Members of the leadership team on the other hand may be expected to jump within minutes of receiving an email or text.
What Disturbs Me About Mobile Culture is that it has brought many negative influences to children. For example, there are all kinds of so-called “challenges” on the Internet. Maybe the person who started the challenge wanted to positively impact people with some practical actions. However, not everyone can think independently and distinguish between truth and falsehood, especially for children. In the end, these “challenges” have become a way for people to become influencers, and people have forgotten the original purpose of the challenge. Most people blindly follow the trend and try to make themselves a new topic of conversation or even do something to hurt themselves to attract attention on the internet. So are we using the internet to influence the world and the next generation? Or is the mobile culture bringing unpredictable adverse effects to our children?
What disturbs me about the mobile culture is how easy it is to alter reality. For example PHOTOSHOP! Software life this can make people believe they saw a blurred up spaceship taking off from behind a mountain, or that they took a selfie with a celebrity, or that they have a crocodile as a pet in their pool. Pages like REDDIT, are filled with memes and fake news, it is so difficult to distinguish what is a fact and what has been modified in a basement. Even the Stock Market is heavily manipulated and make people believe what they see is the real price (but that’s a conversation for another time…). One thing I have learned about life, always take any new information as fake, unless you have proven it other wise YOURSELF, or you can see it with your own eyes, or experience it. As an adult I can filter the misconceptions of the web because of experience, however, young minds don’t have that filter fully developed. I personally think that children should not have personal devices until adult hood, I know, my kids are going to hate me for that, they’re getting a flip phone. As a young teacher, I have grown to see the addiction of phones and social media. I believe is toxic for young individuals and they don’t know how to properly use them. Most people take for granted that they have a computer in their hand, when it once filled an entire facility. These computers allowed for greatness, coding, research, space and infrastructure development, and many other amazing tasks. Instead most people are using technology to kill brain cells, damage posture, morn about relationships, become inseparable and addicted to social FOMO, scroll up and down through irrelevant posts and pictures, etc, etc, etc. I can rant about this topic for days…
Haha, lol @ flip phones, be specific because Samsung now have the Z-Flip 3 🙂
Any way you make some valid points and I share the same sentiments, especially with our children being so dependent on a mobile device it is hard to watch, hopefully, parents can start setting more boundaries, monitor and limit the time spent on devices. We see the impact daily!
I think some of the pictures you can find online are fascinating! When I was high school, there was a trend in Asia where male would cross dress as a woman and they would take pictures. Then these pictures would be heavily photoshopped. My friends and I had a really hard time differentiating between if it was an actual male or not.
The dangers of photoshop is that I feel it teaches you or conditions you to love someone you are not or feel that you are prettier when you alter yourself. It is especially dangerous for young children who struggle with body image issues or are just learning about body and image. So much of that disturbance also comes from dangers and fear in what we expose young children to.
Ok this may sound a bit intense, but it is the bitter truth. Mobile culture has made it possible for companies to subtly commercialize software and services in a way that consumers THINK they are just having fun or connecting with others, but the fact is their data is being used to enable some companies to make more money. The truth is ads are everywhere, but advertisers ARE the customers, and the users are the products being sold. The saying “if you are not paying for the product, then you are the product!” is shockingly true. Social media platforms use algorithms to keep us engaged because the more time we spend on our mobiles, the more money their “customers” make through our exposure to ads. This personal data is valuable to learn about our interests and predict our future clicks. Those big corporates use “persuasive technology” to underlyingly modify our behaviour so that we take the action needed for their growth.
There is a fierce battle among the social media companies, and it is all one how much of our “attention” they can win. The internet companies are the richest companies in history, and that absurd fortune was built upon our engagement and hours spent online. It is a marketplace where social media apps are money machines, and the users are the fuel. Even if we are not buying anything online, our daily engagement is the commodity that feeds the market. This is huge, and I am not sure whether we will ever be able to break this manipulative vicious circle.
I like your take on this, but I have to agree to disagree. I believe this is crucial for the economy of a country. I believe that these “innovative” ideas that the “big brains” have come up with is no different then Apple coming up with fascinating unnecessary ideas for consumers to buy their products. In order for big companies to stay afloat they must learn about people to “take advantage of people”, although it’s a two way relationship. I accept the idea that in return for the services they provide that through ads and user usage they make a profit. This allows movement in the economy both nationally and internationally. Yes, the rich will continue being rich through big ideas and the poor will continue being poor by accepting the new ideas. I believe that’s simply the way things work in this life, there’s always an “unfair factor”. The more money that moves between the marketer and the consumer the more technologies will advance and evolve. Even though it is absolutely unethical and unfair, I believe manipulation and new ideas (good or bad) is what most economies are composed of to keep money flowing. Check out this link on “How is an economy formed and why does it grow?”. It contains some very interesting ideas and concepts you might like to look at. I’d like to hear more about your thoughts on this.
https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/031015/how-economy-formed-and-why-does-it-grow.asp
Thanks for sharing the article Miguel. It certainly makes you sit back and think.
Thank you Miguel for sharing your thoughts on this, and I agree with much of what you said, depending on the way you look it. While it is true that coming up with ideas that invest in the public and take advantage of their NEED is the new way of the world, the methods are in most cases unethical and barely legal. Collecting data from users through detecting keywords in their phone calls or at home through devices like Google Home is not something that we should be proud of as members of this modern society. I believe that the goal does not justify the means. I know that economy is based on methods that can be unfair, but I do not see how that does not disturb us as a concept. For instance, we know the chocolate we eat, the coffee we drink, the diamonds we buy, and the masks we had probably come to use by exploiting the need of those who live in destitute somewhere. Similarly, manipulating software to keep the teenagers hooked on Tiktok and Facebook for longer periods so that someone has a better chance of advertising for their product (making the third party insanely richer) does not seem to be right. I believe that the world needs meaningful and balanced use of technology within an ethical frame, and promoting addiction and manipulation is definitely the way forward for a better world (tackling the issue based on the post question on top.)
I appreciate your thoughts.
Very solid response! Thank you for your thoughts. I absolutely agree with everything you said and fully support it. I wanted to challenge your thoughts and the results were outstanding. Thank you for debating with me 🙂
The Spread of Fake News!
It’s one peeve that the Web has created a platform for anyone to put fake news out to the global population in the first place, but it is the mobile culture to distribute that is the real problem. Mostly pertaining to our youth [but absolutely not excluding other generations] it is rare that fake news is fact-checked. Authors of such misinformation thrive off the theatrics; often, the more outrageous, the more successful the outspread. With the click of the “share” button or a screenshot and paste, that information spreads like wildfire on social media apps – Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube [to name a few].
Apart from spreading misinformation, misconceptions, conspiracies (and all other fake news), these campaigns divert attention from other, more serious problems. It is disturbing that instead of fact-checking and spreading knowledge, the mass mobile culture is more interested in becoming influencers, or at the very least, feeding their own addictions for acknowledgment/”likes” and will distribute the attention grabbing fake news without regard for the consequences.
To extend this idea a bit, I think of how misinformation impacts personal relationships. I hate that admit this but most of my close family is anti-vax and some even believe QAnon conspiracies. And the reason they chose this path is because of all of the misinformation online, but more importantly, their lack of skills when it comes to critically analyzing information online. Needless to say, misinformation has made these familial relationships strenuous and tense. I love my family and no matter what I say or do, I am unable to convince them that they are falling for misinformation. It is heart breaking.
Thank you for sharing your intimate situation Oliva. Equally as sad, is how your story is not an isolated one. Misinformation and its ability to spread through social media has been problematic for as long as mobile culture has existed, but the pandemic has certainly put a spotlight on how many people misinformation can influence. I have been consistently shocked throughout this time at how many educated people are misinformed… think of all of the other conspiracies and fakes news out there that not only jeopardizes the well-being of those who believe in it but inadvertently countless others. It is certainly a pitfall of social culture.
What frightens me the most about mobile culture is the ability for seemingly anyone to post anything. It is a tricky situation to navigate as we cannot and should not suppress free speech but the ease in which poor or even completely false information is able to be spread is highly concerning. We are witnessing one of the most divisive moments in recent history right now with the role of the Covid-19 vaccines and mobile culture has served as both a means to spread awareness but also a means to further divide us. Tomorrow in Ontario, we introduce the “vaccine passport.” I have been keeping a close eye of how people have been reacting to its inclusion and have been frustrated to see how social media platforms have become a medium for people to express their opinions without consideration of how it might affect others. I have friends and family in the restaurant industry who are happy to comply with the new vaccine mandate as it means a safer environment for their staff and clientele to enjoy but who will no doubt have to deal with unreasonably angry customers tomorrow when they have to turn them away. For all the advantages mobile culture has brought with it (transcending physical barriers, sharing knowledge, collaborative engagements, etc.) it has brought with it a host of new problems. Mobile culture has both further united and, simultaneously, further divided us due to the ease in which information can be expressed and shared.
Ben, I also feel that mobile culture also distorts our reality. For example, in BC, almost 80% of residents have been fully vaccinated against Covid. But with what you see in the media and online, it feels like there is a huge group of people who are against the Covid vaccination programs. But the reality is that it is actually quite a small minority of people. This amplification of voices can be useful in some scenarios but quite detrimental in other situations like the one we are facing with the Covid vaccine.
I also think that this is a horrifying reality. I also don’t like the idea where people can make offensive comments or post something racist and it seems to be appropriate. Perhaps because the readers cannot tell who actually posted this. It also makes me question if these people posting inappropriate comments would make the same comments when they are interacting with others face to face.
Hi Benjamin,
What makes this truly a mobile problem is that people can express their opinion in the moment without removing themselves from the situation which may have not been the case if they had to post their thoughts on a non-mobile device. Their post is more likely to be emotionally infused if composed on a mobile device in the moment. The fact that they can essentially remain anonymous in doing so also heightens their power but would not be exclusive to an opinion expressed on a mobile device. The mobile device would however allow for the voice to be amplified sooner.
What disturbs me the about mobile culture is the dependence on technology to interact with others. Gone are the days of phone calls, visits with neighbors or friends who have just dropped by, kids just showing up at houses to ask your kids to play, not knowing something has happened until someone tells you. The speed at which information travels and the ease of texting, facetiming, snapchatting, Instagram has allowed us to choose when we want to interact with others while still being able to observe everything going on in their lives if it’s posted on social media. My own boys will often hang out with friends and all be on their phones, my neighbor will often text me if she needs something, kids will snapchat where they are so others can choose to join them or opt out and you can choose to answer your phone/text/facetime or not. I think it’s affected the way we interact with others and especially the younger generation who has grown up with this being the norm. This is the biggest challenge facing teachers who are still trying to connect with student through “good old fashioned talking” to them while most are texting friends in class or checking their snapchat in high school.
Technology has such fantastic potential, but something seemingly as simple as etiquette is often lost in technology translation.
What bothers me most about mobile technology is that virtual environments appear to have paved the way for cyberhate. In other words, it sometimes feels like this technology has streamlined bullying, negativity, and hate in cyberspace. Its fairly difficult to visit a social media platform without experiencing some sort of negativity which could sometimes be emotionally draining. The biggest gap which adds to the severity of the issue, is the lack of methods, resources, and tactics for dealing with such online encounters. This almost needs to part of curriculum design when teaching kids about internet use, social media platforms, and etc…
What Disturbs Me About Mobile Culture…is that everything is at our fingertips and nothing is in our heads. Do we even know our own phone number anymore? Are mobile phones impacting our memory? I can appreciate Professor Vogt’s father’s passion for ingesting knowledge. Unfortunately, my phone can provide me with all the answers (mostly correct) in less than a second. Whether I retain that information is another matter altogether.
I couldn’t agree with you more on this. Mobile Culture is influencing our daily life deeply that someone cannot live without mobile devices, and our memory is becoming less effective and heavily dependent on mobile devices. For example, if I lose my phone one day, the only person I can research will be my wife because that is the only phone number I can remember. Another problem is that I couldn’t remember my passwords because I always use the auto-saving function, as in today’s era, we have many accounts and passwords to remember.
What disturbs me most is that we are consumers of social media apps. They take data from us and sell it for profit. But what are they selling and who are the selling the data to? There is a cost to using these social media apps – is this cost worth your privacy? It’s easy to say just don’t use it. However not using any social media feels like a disconnect from the world. It feels like I am missing out on information that may be crucial to me professionally and personally. But I do wonder why companies mining our data with the intent to sell bothers us so much? If we are using a free app should we not give them something in return?
https://www.forbes.com/sites/kalevleetaru/2018/12/15/what-does-it-mean-for-social-media-platforms-to-sell-our-data/?sh=1983030a2d6c
I generally make an effort to avoid the reactive pessimism associated with my curmudgeonly generation (“Those kids and their darn MyFace and SpaceBook! Why don’t they go outside and play stickball?!”) but if I’m disturbed by anything about emerging mobile culture it’s the way that mobile and online technologies provide, on the one hand, a vast and diverse environment of ideas, opinions and communities, but also feature algorithms, advertisement and personalization that drives users toward a smaller, more insulated worldview that reinforces their existing likes, opinions and tendencies rather than directing them outward to explore genuinely new ideas, consider differing opinions, or meet others with different lived experiences.
Yes, it’s definitely handy when an online bookseller site can say “if you liked this book, you’d probably like this other book too”, but the push help us all stay in our comfort zones, keep liking what we’ve always liked, meet others who will agree with us about many things or offer unchallenging ideas and information squanders a monumental opportunity to help us look outward instead of inward.
What disturbs me about mobile education is the implications of what it means to be human and the authenticity of the human experience. I think that we are in the amidst of a technological revolution. From even 10 years ago, mobile technology has improved to the point where it’s barely recognizable from now. The scary part is the fact that there have been no signs of it slowing down as every year new technological inventions are reinventing how we interact with them. VR technology was introduced in 2014, and released it’s first version in 2016. The technology was cool, but had serious user limitations that, at the time, was extremely difficult to overcome. Fast forward to 2019, the Oculus Quest came out and revolutionized the VR scene with a wireless VR set. Just one year later, the Quest 2 came out and was better in every way possible.
This quality of technology will make it difficult in the near future to determine what it means to be humans. Especially when neuro interfacing becomes more wide spread and transhumanity becomes a choice rather than fiction. What will happen to the experience of being human when instead of travelling, we can just use the VR? When we be in concerts rather than just watching from the back? What if we could start using our neuro interfacing technology to use the phone or drive? This aspect of technology and how much it can transform our lives is one of the most scary, but exciting aspect of mobile technology for me.
What disturb’s about mobile culture? The answer is very simple! Devices at the dinner table, morning, lunch and evening. Before Covid-19 it was very common to see family members holding onto a mobile device. 2021 will definitely change everything about mobile culture. In fact, mobile culture will explode with a multiple types of apps and programs to share experiences or simply to keep the mind sane. Mobile culture has somewhat separated physical communication, face-to-face, especially in covid-19 times. A mobile device has become a real life virtual type world for some individuals. Meaning, without a device most individuals, from my experience, can not go without a cell phone or ipad. The information from newscast, social media and other sources are traveling at high rates of speed to billions of screens. Taking time to share feelings and stories face-to-face communication has alway been an exciting time for me.
What bothers me about mobile culture is the way that written (and spoken) language is changing. When my high school students submit any written assignments, the number of spelling and grammar mistakes is frightening. They seem unable to distinguish between formal, serious assignment writing expectations and informal text communications where ‘U’ replaces ‘you’ and ‘cuz’ replaces ‘because’ among other examples. Emojis and shorthand seem to be the wave of written communication and grammatically correct formal writing is becoming more rare. Tools such as ‘spell-check’ and ‘grammarly’ have made things worse because students know that they can write whatever they like, and their errors will be corrected – or so they think. Even spell-check doesn’t catch them all. One can even see evidence of this in formerly reputable media sources. One does not need to look far on any news website for writing errors in a news article. Hopefully this is something that will rectify itself in the future, but to be honest, I just see the whole language paradigm making a radical change in the future.
I am on the same page with you about this. I get the purpose of spellcheck and grammarly and they are wonderful as assistive technologies, but I think that there needs to push towards HOW to use these assistive technologies. Like many assistive technologies that have to do with the English language, there are bound to be flaws in how the technology assists the user. This not only exists in spellcheck, but also with speech-to-text technologies and predictive language technologies. I kind of see these assistive language technologies similarly to the way that I see calculators as assistive math technologies. The user needs to know how to use a calculator in order to get a correct mathematical answer, and thus, the user also needs to know how to use spellcheck properly in order to be accurate with their language. We cannot rely solely on these technologies to provide us with 100% accurate information and help, so the human component needs to be there. With spellcheck and grammarly, this may look like teaching students HOW to use these technologies alongside the human component, and how to go back and re-read their work to check for accuracy and understanding.
I agree that there needs to be more education about how to use these technologies as tools to expediate tasks, and not as replacements for knowing the principles behind the tasks. I shudder when I see students grab their calculator for very simple calculations (such as 2 x 4), and also when they misspell simple words. My personal opinion is that the concepts should be taught without technological aid first, and then the technology can be used to save time once students can perform the tasks without. Of course for those with legitimate learning deficits and disabilities the technology is there for them when they need it.
Hi Marlis. I think you’re certainly going to be proven right when you say “I just see the whole language paradigm making a radical change in the future.” but whether that change is one you or I want is another story. I, too, die a little inside when an otherwise reputable news source or similar treats “rein” and “reign” as synonyms, but I’ve softened my resentment a little after coming around to the idea that language has always been at least a little bit flexible, and has always been shaped by its users. I hope that there will always be room for proper grammar, proper spelling, the Oxford comma, and the em dash, but I also recognize that to some degree I hope “good” language and writing skills remain valued because I’ve spent much of my life trying to learn them.
Perhaps to many, fussy language is like cursive writing was for me. I was taught the importance of it, but I never really found value in it, and I abandoned it to the point that I genuinely cannot write cursive now. Grandma, who prided herself on good penmanship, would be aghast, but these standards change over the generations.
As for technologies like Grammarly, surely they’ll “dumb down” writing to some degree in the same way that calculators left many of us unable to do long division any more, but I suppose that’s inevitable. The promise of calculators was that they could expedite mathematical calculation, leaving us more time to actually do something with those calculations, so we might hope that writing tools might at least let poor spellers get on with writing great things.
An aside: hands up if, like me, you’re curious about Grammarly but too proud to let an algorithm criticize your impeccable words? 🙂
Sean makes an interesting point. Language has evolved and will continue to be shaped by its users. As mobile adoption spreads and increases across the world, over time, we should expect to see changes in what’s considered acceptable standards of written communication across disciplines. Speed might trump formality and so using “u” and “cuz” could be completely acceptable in any discipline. Emojis are also highly used in online communication. As time progresses and the emoji dictionary expands, we may see emoji use creep into more formal writing – though perhaps not academic papers for a while;)
You are onto something here. I wonder whether if emojis and shortened ways of typing might be the future. To make this worse, I always advise my intermediate students to use spell check and to use these online grammar checking services, but to always hand check afterwards as the grammar checks has many holes. Unfortunately, even with the power of technology, I still see many mistakes.
I can attest to that autocorrect has ruined my spelling for a while during University as I ended up not being able to spell many words as auto correct changes it without me even knowing. To make this worse, this encourages a habit of spelling that word incorrectly every subsequent time since you had it first time. I wonder if the future of technology will make spelling obsolete, and if so, what will happen to those who grew up in the transition period of this change?
What bothers me most about mobile technology is the way it has blurred the boundaries between different spheres of our lives, but society norms haven’t caught up with addressing that. For instance, I love working from home but do not love the assumption that a “flexible work schedule” means my employer can contact me on evenings or weekends. During this unexpected pandemic year, we were suddenly forced into Zoom calls at home but our spaces needed to be professional, quiet, and essentially free of any sign we had kids or pets or personal lives.
Unplugging is a solution to some of this, but I think what our boundaries are and how we think about them are likely to change.
I do think as A/R becomes a greater part of our lives and remote work and education become more prevalent our physical selves may become a more intimate part of our lives. Seeing someone in person may be a HUGE sign of trust or boundary-breaking. People could date virtually until they make their minds up about each other and students could go their whole academic career and never see their classmates in real life. We may become less obligated to share our home addresses as we increasingly exist online. Friends, family, and partners who do see us and know where we live could be privileged members of a highly intimate group.
What disturbs me most about mobile culture is when I see everyone holding mobile phones in their hands and checking it now and then for notifications and message beeps. People have become slaves of the mobile which drives and controls them at the sound of a beep. Our instant quest to respond to a message and reply to the email notification has become a new normal even while we are in the midst of grave discussion with our loved ones.
Everyday I see toddlers holding the mobiles in their hand while they are being carried by their parents in the stroller. Adults use it for music, watching videos,connecting socially or professionally and playing games everywhere whether they are in the transit or public areas. It surprises me more when I see people with their head bent down, glaring at the screen for hours being unaware of their vicinity and their surroundings in the public area. This mobile trend has become so unavoidable and part of our lives that we tend to adopt and adapt ourselves in this culture unwillingly or willingly.
Hi Loveleen,
I agree with you!
What bothers me the most is when people do that at social events or activities. Instead of enjoying the now, they are living in their mobile phones. For example, when having dinner, and having coffee with friends. I fall into that trap too, when I go out with my kids, sometimes I get so wrapped up in taking pictures/videos of them that I forget to enjoy what’s in front of me, which is to just interact and have fun with them. I feel like we are constantly needing stimulation, that’s why we can’t be without our phones for one minute. What happened to the days where we are oaky with just staring into space?
For some people, the phone has become an extension of their arm. This past year, I entered into the smart watch world. One thing that I have noticed since having a smart watch is that I am pulling my phone out less to answer texts and emails and I am giving less attention to other notifications. I do glance at my watch quite a bit throughout the day in order to see what the buzz and beep is all about. But by glancing at my watch, I can tell if it is something that I need to respond to or not, which will then prompt me to either pull out my phone and respond or keep it in my pocket to respond to later. This has made me realize how often I was responding to messages and notifications that didn’t need immediate response. I am not sure if glancing at my watch is any different than glancing at my phone, but since the watch interface is not as user-friendly for responding to notifications, I find that I am spending much less time on my phone that my pre-smartwatch self.
What disturbs me about technology is how parents use it as a way to ensure the safety of their children, but don’t take into account other factors of young kids having access to a cell phone. My son is in Grade 5 and there are kids in his class that have phones that are brought to school. Those phones are then used to text and some even have data so they can watch YouTube and access some social media apps (despite being too young to have accounts). At the high school level, it is infuriating that students have parents who text and/or call them all day long in the middle of class! I understand that there are times that you need to get a message to your child, but there is still the option of calling the office to get a message out. It’s so distracting for the students and the “well it’s my mom so I need to answer it” response won’t be well received in most work environments!
I won’t lie – I answer my phone in call and send the odd text, but there is a time and a place for it and that’s the message I’m trying to get across to my students.
Oh I also get that response from my senior students as well. But, are those messages really from their parents? I sometimes suspect that they are just excuses from them being on their phones and not on tasks during class time. I hate to make strict rules for cellphones in classroom and constantly monitor their phone uses because these days many of my students need to use their phones as calculators (Desmos, TVM solvers, etc.) and they are out on their desks.
The issue of smart phones in class is quite frustrating – something that wasn’t an issue 10 – 15 years ago. As a substitute teacher, I see kids on their phones constantly when I am in a class. I ask them to put the devices away, but many will just ignore me, or pull them out soon after. I don’t want to press the issue too much because I am unsure of the regular class expectations from their teacher. However, when I had my own class previously, I would be very clear about expectations – when the phones were allowed to come out, and when they were put away. Most of the time my students would behave or else I would confiscate their phones (if I saw them using when they weren’t supposed to). It takes a lot of extra energy to keep monitoring and watching for unsolicited use on top of all the other tasks going on in class, so I understand why some teachers just end up throwing up their hands and picking their battles.
What disturbs me about mobile culture is that the idea of creativity has taken a turn. I was once watching a website design video, where the instructor said that creativity is not thinking of something on your own, it is using other people’s ideas and adding to them. Although I think she was focusing on the idea of using templates in design, I have noticed that mentality in regards to creativity, with mobile culture. I am all for remixing ideas and I know that all art has it’s influences, but I have noticed that there is a little more ‘copycatting’ going around these days.
One thing that disturbs me about mobile culture is cyberbullying. I see it amongst students in the same class, or the same school, and one, short post or text can do so much damage. Particularly amongst 12-15 year-olds, a rumour can be started, an embarrassing picture can be shared, a fight can be set up, and the list goes on. Often something intended for sharing with one person becomes public in no time, and a young person suffers. This is such a challenging issue to manage, and it’s so quick and easy to create that post or send that text message, that the people doing the bullying don’t always realize the damage they’re doing.
This is a big pet peeve about mobile devices, data clean-up. I just finished purging and transferring nearly 15 GB of data I received from friends, family, and my personal use downloads. This includes gifs, short videos, audio recordings, images, and cookies sent to my smartphone. Years ago this process would only happen once a year, but now it occurs every 6 months, due to the amount of data I receive. Every smartphone I upgrade to has double sometimes triple the GB space, but it is never enough.
I totally agree. Before the smartphone, I was uploading and filing my photos from my camera. Now, with the vast storage spaces of the phone, my photo stream is an absolute mess. it takes so long to find a photo and syncing and transferring is messy as well.
Hi Brittany,
I think we all have that problem!
I use Apple everything so that I can avoid doing that manually. I also heard that the new Apple 13 is going to have 1TB of storage! I am looking forward to the day that I no longer have to worry at all about not having enough storage, and having to upgrade my cloud storage plans!
I am disturbed by the amount of personal data that we share online. Mobile devices are carried by us, so any app with access to the microphone, camera, body sensors, physical activity, contacts, and location can monitor us. Big Brother does not need to watch us – we are tracked!
There are many permissions that we can disable for each phone, but did you notice that Google Play has permission to access your contacts by default? Why are apps -often as a default for installation- getting permission for SMS and phone call logs?
Here’s a blog by a software engineer from a cyber security company discussing this issue:
https://symantec-enterprise-blogs.security.com/blogs/threat-intelligence/mobile-privacy-apps
Hi Evelyne,
My thoughts exactly. Even with ideas like Smarthomes and personal assistants (Alexa, Google Home, etc.), which I support, there’s a lot of security issues that come with it. Have you ever had a discussion about buying something with your family or your friends and the next time you open Facebook or any social media, you get ads about it? I mean, how does that even happen?
The convenience technology provides for us is amazing but because of this convenience, there’s always going to be personal data about us available online. I also heard that some employers will Google the names of applicants before they hire. In the article you shared, it talked about “risky permissions” and I think it provided some good tips on how to increase control of our own privacy. I think the most important thing is for us to be mindful, aware, and knowledgeable about these potential issues and do our best to protect our own personal data because no one is going to do it for us.
Seo-Whi, to answer your question about how Facebook tracks you, here is a link that shows you where that setting is
https://www.facebook.com/off-facebook-activity
It’s called ‘Off-Facebook activity’ where they track what you do even when you aren’t on FB and then target ads to you. You can turn it off (which I did), but it’s quite deep in the settings.
The amount of personal data that is shared without our knowledge is frightening. Even those silly Facebook quizzes are analytical programs designed to profile you, and then the data is sold so that marketing can be better targeted.
Fair price to pay for the convenience and entertainment values we get from our favorite apps?
What disturbs me about mobile culture?
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/article-bill-gates-says-hes-surprised-by-crazy-and-evil-pandemic-conspiracy/
Read this article this morning and thought it was timely.
Gates asks, ” do people really believe this stuff?” And I and many people would have thought people don’t really believe Trump and his claims of election fraud do they?
It would seem to me that social media does persuade people to believe false information.
Toby,
This is highly disturbing to me as well. Watching the 2020 US presidential election unfold and realizing that so many of my fellow citizens (and friends!) believe in some pretty outlandish conspiracies was mind-boggling for me. More so because so many of the conspiracies could be disproven with a simple search online and the perusing of a view of credible sources. While in school I was taught to always question the sources from which I was attaining information. It is shocking to me that many of my fellow classmates seem to have forgotten this lesson, or merely don’t care to consider the validity and reliability of their sources for information. While I think the highly accessible nature of news and information these days is great, it comes with the caveat of requiring those who access it to still think critically before assuming an article’s opinions and statements as their own.
I am hoping with the election of a new president who promotes the use of scientific evidence to determine policies for public health (among many other choices), that some semblance of sanity, credibility, and trust will return to the US government.
What disturbs me about mobile culture……
I’m sorry Professor Vogt, but exactly your provocation from “pleasant surprise about mobile culture” is exactly my peeve.
When I’m talking to someone and they take a call or start looking at their phone, I walk away.
And my wife and I love making fun of the couples on a date, each on their phone and not interacting.
The need to connect to the light is greater than the connection to the person right in front of you. Now that is rewiring social norms!
Should we take a turn into Tinder? All I will say is, I’ve never been on it, but when I look over peoples shoulder on transit and I see them swiping past hundreds of wonderful people without a second’s pause, I think WTF? Yes, this is an extreme example of social norms being skewed by tech, but Tinder has roughly 6 million monthly users.
Anyway, these are some of the examples of the negative effects of mobile communication on our social norms.
Hi Toby – I could not agree more! It’s just crazy how many people checks their phone the second they receive a call or text. It’s especially brutal in class. I will be in the middle of a discussion and a student just answers a call, gets up and leaves! And the worst of it is that it’s often a parent calling. It’s like manners and respect are thrown out the window these days and everyone feels pressured to reply instantly. People don’t know the frustration of a busy signal or just being ok with the fact that they can’t get a hold of their friend or family. Now we are impatient and sometime expect the worst if someone doesn’t reply.
Yes Toby and Meg, this indeed is the thing that disturbs me most as well. The most disturbing aspect of it in my mind is that most people who do this aren’t even aware of it. The amount of times I have students ask me a question, then as I am discussing it with them they get a text and just start looking at that…..it’s happened a lot. But each and every time I use it as a teachable moment, and honestly these students often agree with what I tell them – they just aren’t even aware that they are being rude or what have you. It gets worse when it’s friends and colleagues who do it – we really are drawn to it in an almost reptilian fashion, lol, we just can’t help ourselves even when we know it’s rude.
Mobile culture and immediate access to instant gratification and knowledge has in some way made socializing very difficult. Is it sad that, as a 28 year old woman, the majority of my dates are organized through a dating application? Or that if I make eye contact with a stranger on the train, it sends a rush of emotions because this type of interaction is now so rare? There have been so many times when I have been sitting with friends enjoying an evening when all of the sudden, everyone is on their phone and no one is really “present” anymore. I’m highly extroverted and mobile culture greatly altered the way I can meet people organically without the influence of mobile culture. So this is my pet peeve. Which is why when I use technology in education, I always tell my students, it’s a tool, not a toy. Therefore they are encouraged to see that the real world around them is far more valuable and memorable than the moments they spend glued to their screens…
Hi Elixa,
Thanks for sharing this! I agree with you. Mobile technologies open up many opportunities for communication and interaction but it’s taking away human interaction. I remember one of my students said to me, “it’s awkward to talk to someone one-on-one, texting is so much better.” and I honestly didn’t know what to say to that. It’s all about balance, right? We need to remind ourselves to “disconnect to connect” and I think it’s important to teach students that too.
What disturbs me about mobile culture is the effect that it has had on independent artists such as musicians. We had a house concert with Leeroy Stagger, a musician from Victoria, two years ago and over supper had some interesting conversations about Spotify, Apple Music and other streaming apps. The amount that they are making from these platforms is pennies and now combine this with the effects of Covid shutdowns is making it nearly impossible for smaller artist to make a viable living. 250 streams = $1, meaning it would take around 650,000 streams/month for an artist to make the equivalent of minimum wage ($15/h). (https://globalnews.ca/news/7427064/music-streaming-spotify-paying-artists/#:~:text=That%20represents%20a%20significant%20increase,equivalent%20of%20%2415%20an%20hour.)
Thank you for sharing this DeeDee. I have always wondered what impact these streaming platforms have had on musicians and if it was benefiting or hindering their livelihood. What is the best way that we as consumers can support artists when we use things such as Spotify and Apple Music or are there better platforms out there that we should consider?
Erin,
As far as I can see all the platforms are similar in the pay structures. Personally, I try to buy the actual album (whether that is on iTunes or a physical copy), merchandise when I can and during COVID we have attended quite a few online concerts to help support artists that have lost their touring revenue. Some musicians have started Patreon accounts where they offer special virtual concerts and song releases for those who pay for a monthly subscription of around $5.
This is a great point, Dee. And those are the instances when they get paid! Wattpad is a Canadian-made startup app that was recently bought for a hefty price tag. It pays writers nothing for their content, just exposure and the (very slim chance) to have their work bought by a studio or publishing company, if the author’s audience grows big enough. High-traffic writers also gain the opportunity to ask their audience for support, but Wattpad gives nothing. I worry consumer-culture fuelled by mobile technology will push society further and further from supporting our artists.
What disturbs me most about mobile culture is the increasing dependency of those with phones. Many people have discussed feeling the phantom ring, when their phone is away from them. It is strange, but many times, when my phone dies (unless I am in a precarious situation) I actually feel a sense of relief, as I can be present in my environment and be able to have moments of self-reflection.
Secondly, what disturbs me about mobile culture, is the expectation of constant accessibility. Recently I accepted a new job, and the first thing they asked was whether I wanted a company phone. I have never had a company phone before, but my understanding is that I am now expected to be accessible nearly 24/7. This worries me for a number of reasons. Although I am sure my new manager and I will work out terms that work for both of us, it bothers me that 24-hour access is becoming an expectation in many companies.
I have noticed this almost expectation that people are available to work 24/7, including teachers. Many of my colleagues comment that they are working until 11pm every night, especially since the move to online learning where everything is online from google classroom, to google chats, to email. It seems that those who have the hardest time “leaving work at work” are the ones who have their email (and especially email notifications) on their phones. I purposely do not have my work email on my phone, making it much easier to log off at 3:30 and have a good work-life balance.
I agree Erin, I am noticing that as well. And when it comes from leaders, they are creating an example or expectation (whether intentional, or not) for everyone else to keep those work hours as well. I try my best to log off on time, but worry, if by doing so I will be seen as shirking my responsibilities. Which definitely was not a concern in the past.
This is a good point Emma.
It is even harder now when the employer wants you to have multiple access points on numerous hardware systems. Companies want g-mail accounts, icloud accounts, and outlook accounts. Between texting, cell phone contacts, voice mails and e-mails, it makes it very difficult to catch up. Sometimes it can take up to 2 hours just to read through daily messages.
Reading through previous posts, I notice the theme of how mobile devices and social media have changed the way we interact with the world around us. Something that bothers me about mobile culture is how we are no longer present in the moment or living our own lives for ourselves. We are living our lives for other people; and more often than not, people we haven’t actually seen in months or years or may never see face to face again. For many people going for lunch with friends is not simply a meal and a chance to catch up anymore- for many they spend the meal trying to get the perfect photo that will make the most people jealous. Who are we doing this for? We religiously monitor who has viewed, liked or commented on our post, often waiting for that one particular person to see it. Then when that rush is gone we need more.
Mobile devices and cameras are great for capturing special moments to look back on later and share with the people around you. However, this new mobile culture of posting photos of moments that we were not really “present” for or going out of our way to make it look like we are doing something or living a life we are not, is damaging to our self worth and self image.
Hi Erin,
I see this too, and I agree. I especially find myself berating myself when I travel if I am living the experience through my phone. I have to constantly remind myself to put down my camera and actually be present in the space and experience it. I’ve heard the expression, “pics or it didn’t happen” and it seems that a disproportionate amount of people have taken that to heart. It saddens me that we are taking ourselves out of the present, to capture and share the moment with people who as a whole, don’t really care.
Mobile technology has made everyone extremely uncomfortable with down time. It is unbearable to wait in line for something without a phone. Our minds need to be constantly engaged in something, even if that something has no positive educational/wellness value. We have also become impatient. Everything that we want has to happen NOW. Comedian Ronny Chieng did a segment on this trend where he yells, “I want it NOW. Prime NOW. Right NOW. No, you know what? Prime BEFORE!” It is hilarious to think that we are so impatient that we would start expecting things before we think of wanting them, until you realize that this is actually reality. Devices like Alexa anticipate what we need and every website target ads specifically to us. I have this dystopian vision that once drone deliveries become mainstream, that instead of ads bombarding us, we would get products at our doors with the option of clicking “buy now” and “return”.
I think you’re absolutely right Ying. The idea that we can’t just “do nothing” anymore is a little disturbing. We live in a world, where we can entertain ourselves 24/7. However, the amount of quiet self-reflective time is decreasing. In fact, there are meditative apps, just to remind us to do just that! Whenever we need something, there’s an app for that. Groceries? Check. Fitness? Check. Entertainment? Check. News? Check. Everything is within reach, and the more I talk with people, the more people say they use their phone and mobile technologies as a way to distract themselves from self-reflection, and from addressing their own feelings, dreams, or ambitions.
It’s sad that we expect the world from our technologies, so much so, that we neglect ourselves.
This is also disturbing to me. I am often troubled by the fact that my children don’t seem to have the ability to just “do nothing.” I try to fight the urge to grab my phone the moment that I am alone. It can be so nice to sit and observe your surroundings or just think and relax; sometimes those seem to be forgotten pleasures.
One of my pet peeve about mobile culture is that the parents are training their kids to be tools in front of cameras.
Here’s a scene I witnessed when I was travelling. A group of adults took their children to travel, but the children were pouting and upset about something. Then one of the parents said, “Hey, it looks beautiful here, let’s take a photo for you.” Like instantly, the kids turned their angry faces into smiles and made all kinds of different poses for their parents to take their photos. But right after the photo section, they went back to pouting and being angry.
To me, that was amazing and shocking. I’m concern that the younger generation will become more lost in the digital age. They learn to care more about how many likes will they get from their photo. And they won’t even pay attention to the places they go to but they will only care about how they look in the pictures. They will try even harder to find their digital identity through the internet. And that started way too early when their parents use them as tools for their “moments”.
I agree with many of the posts that have been posted here. I think I am disturbed by the fact that my life is captured in a mobile device (i.e., my smartphone) that is equipped with advanced AI. All aspects of my life are captured in the device – my work email and calendar notifications and work text chains. My accomplishments and important events are in the camera roll. I can order what I need through apps (no doubt Amazon and Apple are collecting and using this data to create algorithms to be used in future AI).
I am creeped out by the fact that these AI are monitoring my behaviour – many companies state that AI will support and make our lives better. I am not entirely convinced. What happens when these AI can think for themselves?
I’m not a big fan of how quickly “the mobile” changes, as well as how it can factor into someone’s ability to participate and contribute.
We’ve almost been programmed to expect a new phone model to come out each year. Cell phone contracts used to lock us in 2 or 3 year agreements, which essentially created a timeline for our devices to become obsolete. Nowadays, it’s becoming increasingly common that phones are just purchased unlocked. Trade-in programs have been introduced to provide even more incentive for us to consider that annual upgrade.
People used to buy BlackBerry’s largely to BBM with all of their friends. Consider Apple’s “movement” to make ordinary text messages uncool, but their own iMessage system the next best thing! There is definitely a social aspect to mobile usage and ownership…
One of the mobile tensions I’ve been running into lately has to do with online exams. Proctorio — one of UBC’s proctoring softwares — requires that students have a webcam and microphone. Suddenly, this program intended to leverage consumer technologies for ensuring exam integrity is actually imposing technological and material barriers to learning! It’s an approach that seems to be driven by the assumption that while everyone needs to possess the tech, they can’t be trusted with it if governance is absent.
Something that bothers me about the mobile culture is when people live through their phones and not with the people they are with. Why is it socially acceptable to have a group of people hanging out together, and each of them is interacting with their phones and not with the people they are beside? I see groups of people all looking down, continually scrolling. If everyone spent all of their time looking at their phones, how do they ever have time to take pictures of the cool stuff they are pretending to do? I know I am exaggerating a bit; however, there is always that one friend at a dinner party that drifts away and falls into the vortex of social media. I really noticed it when my parents visited, and they no longer speak to each other. My dad relaxes on his device and my mom on hers. It is not just a “young people’s thing,” it is the mobile culture.
I can relate to your points. I try to be very mindful of all of this, but that being said, even having to be mindful to put my phone away says a lot. When I am with others, I like to either not have my phone out or turn it over on silent so I am not triggered by a notification to avoid being on my device. Our culture is definitely turning into a mobile and virtual culture, but it is just so prevalent in our lives, especially right now.
Hi Kristin,
I agree with you 100%, this is what bothers me the most about mobile culture. I have noticed this too with my dad, like you said it is not something only for young people, it is everyone. When my first son was born, I started to be more conscious about my phone use, as I would like for him to not be so addicted to all these technology. It was interesting to me, that it would be my dad, who would show him videos of animals on his phone. Like you said, this issue is found in all generations.
You have brought up a good point about the interactions with our devices over the actual interactions you can have face to face. This reminds me of a trip I took with my family where we were happily playing on the beach, interacting with each other. However, I found I was starting to notice more and more people, just sitting on their devices and taking pictures of themselves. These were mostly young people, gathering in groups, all looking at their devices, then they would take a bunch of selfies, look at their phone, get up and leave. That was it, no stopping to actually enjoy the experience and really interact with each other. It appeared they were there “just for the Instagram”. On the flip side, once they left, there was more space on the beach to relax and play with my own family.
to Juliano’s point that people document instead of enjoy the momentHas anyone been to a museum lately? Beautiful paintings or exhibits completely obscured by the hordes of people holding up phones and people taking selfies with the artwork
I saw Jack White a few years ago at Circuit of the Americas, which is a huge outdoor venture in Austin, and it was a mobile-less concert. Everyone had a phone pouch that could only be locked/unlocked by event staff, but there were areas you could go away from the show to unlock. It made it a much more pleasurable, present experience. I can imagine for smaller venues it would be amazing to not have to look through or around other people’s devices to enjoy the show.
I love taking a few photos at concerts and boomerangs when there’s cool lighting, but if I’m going overboard I know it detracts from the experience of those around me. A lot of people don’t have the self awareness.
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To Juliano’s point that people document instead of enjoy the moment, I am disturbed by the pervasiveness of mobile devices in spaces that were once so much more enjoyable without them.
Has anyone been to a museum lately? Beautiful paintings or exhibits completely obscured by the hordes of people holding up phones and people taking selfies with the artwork. Or the theatre or a symphony? No place is off limits.
I saw Jack White a few years ago at Circuit of the Americas, which is a huge outdoor venture in Austin, and it was a mobile-less concert. Everyone had a phone pouch that could only be locked/unlocked by event staff, but there were areas you could go away from the show to unlock. It made it a much more pleasurable, present experience. I can imagine for smaller venues it would be amazing to not have to look through or around other people’s devices to enjoy the show.
I love taking a few photos at concerts and boomerangs when there’s cool lighting, but if I’m going overboard I know it detracts from the experience of those around me. A lot of people don’t have the self awareness. Frankly, cultural and entertainment venues need to start using the locking pouches, because this is gotten way out of control. I’d give up my ability to document if I could enjoy myself.
What disturbs me about mobile culture is the ability to change your identify and pretend to be someone who you are not, specifically adults targeting young people. Online predators are real and teenagers (and younger) must be educated about the risks online. CNN stated in 2017 that only 5% of online predators pretend they are kids. Even though 5% seems like a low number kids need to be aware of the possibilities of being online. Social media and its prevalence, even with young children provide opportunities for unsafe experiences online and need to be addressed with our youth. The question is, who addresses these concerns with children, parents, educators, government sponsors that bring awareness online?
Here is the article from CNN from 2017 https://www.cnn.com/2017/08/03/health/online-predators-parents-partner/index.html
Katlyn, to piggyback on your comment, the danger of online anonymity also gives people the false sense that they can make comments without any consequence. Cyberbullying has become a real issue and it’s hard to monitor when the actions are now taking place online instead of a school cafeteria or by an office water cooler. People feel more free to make extreme comments in different social media platforms. Sometimes people would just simply brush off their abusive behaviour online as trolling when the comments are indeed harmful and lack of basic respect.
On a lighter note of the culture of trolling, a new business idea was actually created based on that. Welcome to the idea of troll cakes: https://qz.com/1041042/this-woman-trolls-trolls-with-cakes/. The idea is the customer can pick their favourite troll comment and order a custom-make cake with the comment on it. The bakery also acts as private detective to track down the user who made the original comment and sends the cake to the person.
I honestly feel like I am completely oblivious to the sort of cyberbullying that must be going on in so many schools worldwide. I’ve only seen minor glimpses of it, but just the idea of how easily kids can take unwanted photos and screengrabs of others and post them anonymously – it’s scary to think about.
I like that you added in an example of the lighter side of trolling, as I think examples of how to disregard abusive behaviour can be positive models for people of all ages to look up to (not that making light of the situation is always best, but sometimes developing a thicker skin can be a good coping strategy – I say that as someone who’s very susceptible to being influenced by negative feedback/criticism). Your link about troll cakes reminds me of the NSFW “Celebrities Read Mean Tweets” segments that Jimmy Kimmel does, where celebrities laugh at outrageous mean tweets directed towards them and often even get in on the jokes in a self-deprecating manner. Some of them are a little crass (as said, NSFW), so I won’t post a link here, but it’s easy to find via Youtube if anyone’s curious.
Katlyn, I would have to agree the idea of online predators is disconcerting. For the act to be so relevant that there is an actual term for it is so sad. The Cambridge Dictionary defines catfishing as “the practice of pretending on social media to be someone different, to trick or attract another person.” Looking up catfishing statistics in 2019, it is surprisingly commonly distributed across the U.S. One study highlighted Alaska as the state with the highest likelihood of catfishing cases, which I found surprising. https://www.highspeedinternet.com/resources/states-with-most-catfishing-scams
I was happy to see that there were a lot of resources highlighting the top ways to identify if you are being catfished. I had very mixed feelings that one of the articles was from Teen Vogue. https://www.teenvogue.com/story/signs-youre-being-catfished
I appreciate that the magazine is wanting to educate teens, I am sad that they feel they have to. I believe, along with cyberbullying, the dangers of being a victim of catfishing should be included in school curriculums.
Thanks for brining up “catfishing” Kristin. Being honest, I did not know that is what cat-fishing is referring to because I hear so my teens talk about being a catfish in another way. Teens often call themselves a catfish because they look so different when they wear make-up and then they do not. There was a recent trend on TikTok where girls post “catfish” videos of before and after make up. I am concerned that I was not aware of the actual meaning of catfishing and I have been influenced by the meaning on social media. Goes to show how susceptible people can be to trends.
Something that disturbs me about mobile culture is the how “perfect” things appear to be on social media. Apps like Instagram paint a pretty picture of what life should look like. In reality things are far from what they appear to be. This puts a lot of pressure on young teenagers who strive to depict what they see. Among each post, they constantly seek the validation of others through likes and comments. It’s almost as if this app consumes their entire lives. A number of studies have suggested that social media use may be negatively associated with adolescents’ well-being. An explanation for this may be that they internalize various types of ideals displayed on Instagram. A survey study conducted among Austrian, Belgian, Spanish, and South Korean adolescent girls found that Instagram use was positively related to the internalization of professional, social, sexual, and romantic ideas. It’s easy to get caught up in the “perfection” piece when posting on Instagram, but I think what is needed is a reality check.
Orpha de Lenne, Laura Vandenbosch, Steven Eggermont, Kathrin Karsay & Jolien Trekels (2020) Picture-perfect lives on social media: a cross-national study on the role of media ideals in adolescent well-being, Media Psychology, 23:1, 52-78, DOI: 10.1080/15213269.2018.1554494
Hi Ravneet,
This is definitely a disturbing aspect of social media and one I think we are all concerned about, especially in regards to the next generation. There is a lot of that can be said how the videos and pictures being produces, filtered and corrected which we often compare ourselves too. The general comparisons being made can be harmful to everyone, but especially someone who just beginning adolescence.
This reminds me of the Dove Campaign for Real Beaty (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpM499XhMJQ) which is a time lapse showing alterations that could be made for advertisements. Technology has allowed similar photoshopping tools to be available (and sometimes built in to) personal devices, allowing the ability for anyone to alter images creating unrealistic expectations. These expectations could be around appearance to experiences, there is no limit to what we can put filters on.
Lindsay, I am glad someone mentioned the self-esteem aspect of social media lives. I had a conversation about this exact topic last night. During the COVID lockdown, I have noticed that social media posts continue to be positive and uplifting. There are definitely people who are having a hard time with isolation. Is it acceptable to post that I am having a hard time? Will I receive support or negative comments because I should be grateful that I am fortunate to still have the ability to pay for food. I wouldn’t want to post to get support, my intention would be to show others out there that they are not alone. I don’t know if I am describing it correctly, I believe a video post might sound more sincere and not like I am complaining.
Hi Ravneet,
This is a really good aspect that I don’t like about mobile culture. When my first son was born, I started posting pictures of him in social media on a monthly basis. I though, I like to share with family and friends abroad (nothing wrong with this). At some point it felt that the picture had to be so perfect, or not worth sharing. At that point, I realized, that I don’t want to participate on that, either feel like I have to post the perfect picture, or for someone else to believe that everything on this side was perfect. I believe that this perfection brings a lot of pressure to real life.
I’ve been thinking about this a lot through the COVID-19 lockdown – for example, seeing people post that they’re enjoying baking bread and appreciate the much-needed break from constant socializing, and then I message them and they reveal in a DM that while yes, they are enjoying baking, they’re also having crushing anxiety. It has ended up seeming like a weird reality where I know intuitively that most people are really struggling, but I’m actually mostly not seeing it anywhere on social media. It has never been so glaring to me how much we all edit and style our images on social media until now.
One thing that disturbs me about mobile culture is the noise. Social media can be like a giant echo chamber and makes no real distinction about the quality of the content, this can be funny, and even touching in moments but most of the time it’s an incredible distraction. Many people feel the need to simply be a part of the noise, without necessarily taking the time to consider the value of the contribution, or the actual person on the other end of the interaction. I hope that in time we are able to adapt and educate each other to become more discerning about what we put out there and what we take in because if we don’t I feel it may be hard for many of us to get anything meaningful accomplished.
What disturbs me about mobile culture is the incessant need for attention and validation through likes, sharing, retweeting, etc. I’ve heard too many times someone boasting about the number of likes their selfie got or disappointment because no one commented on their most recent status change. The thought that ones self-esteem and feelings of self-worth can be impacted by someone double tapping their phone is very disturbing.
Hey Natalie, to add to your point about the need for likes I recently noticed a change on Instagram. Pre-pandemic I had deleted Instagram for some time away from social media and I recently re-downloaded the app. What I noticed is that posts no longer indicate how many likes the post received, only the person that posted it can see the number but it is not as visible and takes a few clicks to access it. I wonder what caused Instagram to make this change and if they have received any push back for not posting the number of likes. I was interested to see this change and I hope it will lead to a shift away from validation from number of likes.
This such a major issue that unfortunately genuinely impacts not only the way that some people lead their lives, but how well they’re able to regular their social-emotional well-being. When I was in the height of my food blogging days, I was transfixed by the numbers – how many people were viewing my blog, how many likes I got on Instagram, etc. Part of it was financial – the more exposure, the more opportunities would come my way – but a lot of it was the validation factor as well. When Instagram changed their algorithms and it became obvious that my photos were showing up on less and less people’s phones, it definitely had an impact on me. At the same time, it’s been freeing having sort of given up on engaging in platforms like Instagram, and recognizing that even as I may miss the highs of having hundreds of people validate my work with likes, I don’t miss the frustration of feeling like something I posted didn’t live up to my expectations.
Natalie – I have never understood likes on social media. It becomes a popularity contest, and it sets unrealistic expectations for the majority of the users. I share similar frustrations with likes on social media as I do with the discussion posts. When posts have notifications that someone has replied, I appreciate the reminder to check-in. However, without notifications, you sign in often to check to see if someone has responded. It can be defeating to put yourself out there in a post and not receive a reply, or worse a downvote. We should be challenged by our peers but in a supportive way. An anonymous thumbs down does not provide a learning experience for the author. I am reminded of the feedback sandwich or two stars and a wish when providing constructive feedback to someone. There should be a balance, not all negative, but also not thousands of likes for a picture of your dinner.
What disturbs me about mobile culture is that many people are living their “moments” through a screen or a post but not actually living in the moment. They care more to show off online that they were at an event, than to actually watch and experience the event for themselves. One example of this would be when watching the Celebration of Lights fireworks in the summer. When the show starts, you see countless phone screens turn on with people recording the show. Honestly, how many people are going to go back and watch the fireworks show on their phone at a later date? Instead of watching the actual fireworks, they are watching the fireworks through their screen to make sure it is recording properly. What makes this worse is that there is a feed/stream provided by the actual event coordinators that you can find online later that likely is better quality than what was recorded by the user!
Absolutely!
“Many people are living their “moments” through a screen or a post but not actually living in the moment.” So well-said. When we post those “memorable moments” on our social media, are we living in virtuality or reality? Your post reminds me of a video I came across in another course and thought you might be interested in watching 🙂
Are You Living an Insta Lie? Social Media Vs. Reality
Thanks for the video! I can picture a few people I know who do many of those things. It’s sad to think that there are some who actually believe that “quality time with friends” is going on their own phones while sitting at the same table.
I posted a podcast this week that shares some research on whether taking and sharing photos of an experience increases or decreases your enjoyment of that experience. It was quite interesting! You can listen to it embedded in my post here – https://blogs.ubc.ca/etec523/2020/05/26/when-sharing-helps-and-when-sharing-hinders-a-podcast/
Thanks for sharing the podcast Anne! Speaking from personal experience, taking/sharing the photo on the first take, I’m still enjoying the experience. However, my enjoyment quickly dwindles when someone asks me to take a photo for the fifth time (or more) because the lighting, filter, angle, etc. wasn’t good enough for their Instagram post.
I like your statement “living ‘moments’ through a screen”, but how about those that are living “moments” for a screen? I read a magazine article about a location in the lower mainland that people go to specifically to take photos to add to their social media. I found myself wondering, when did the impact of social media change what we value in an experience or moment?
The problem of smartphone distraction in the classroom is my nightmare. I was also videotaped in the classroom by students more than once, surreptitiously and I caught the student in the act, and I do not know how many times that I was videotaped and never found out. I have tried various classroom management techniques to deal with the problem well aware that the expectation is that I must deal with the problem in the classroom and avoid at all costs the problem reaching the Principal Office. The reason for this is that the Principal Office is of no help in the matter and does not have any part in the solution that I need to find for myself to deal with the problem, which must be dealt with wholly within the classroom and nowhere else since the expectation is not to send the student to the Office. What do you think?
Yet on the other hand, the view is that cellphones are a technology that teachers should leverage in the classroom as students have them and will use them in the classroom anyway. I am a believer of leveraging cell phones as educational technology in the classroom, that it is very difficult to control or we cannot control students using cell phones in the classroom, and at the same time it is important to teach students how to self-regulate and to use cell phones appropriately as a learning tool in the classroom. I am also a parent and I let my children have cell phones and I think of how many adults peek at their cell phones in a movie theater or in meetings and presentations.
What disturbs me about mobile culture is how quickly false information can spread. This has been especially evident during the COVID pandemic. As UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres described, “a global misinfo-demic is spreading.”(UN News, 2020) I’m sure we have all seen some form of forwarded messages claiming to have expert advice on how to prevent COVID or insider information on COVID cures or wild conspiracy theories on how COVID is a bioweapon. These rumors are spread with a simple forward or share from people who thought they are sharing useful information. In fact, WhatsApp had to reduce the number of forwards for users from five to one to reduce the spread of false information. These messages can also be used as a scam tool with a phone number or link to steal personal information. It is our duty as digital citizens to think critically, understand biases, and check the sources of information to confirm its legitimacy. Check the facts before forwarding!
Reference: UN News. (2020). Hatred going viral in ‘dangerous epidemic of misinformation’ during COVID-19 pandemic. Retrieved May 26, 2020 from https://news.un.org/en/story/2020/04/1061682
This is also something that disturbs me about mobile culture especially when you mentioned the conspiracy theories. It amazes me how fast fake news can spread and how fast people will pick up and share that information. The difficult part is when family or friends start spouting these “conspiracy theories” and now these relationships can quickly deteriorate because of how this misinformation has grabbed hold of our daily online lives.
Just recently I noticed that Twitter now has a disclaimer for some posts that informs the reader to do a fact check. This was actually applied to a tweet by the President of the United States. I never thought I would see the day that a world leader would need a disclaimer to have their facts checked. These are definitely “unprecedented” times we are living in!
The evidence is overwhelming that most Twitter accounts spreading misinformation or divisiveness are fake and controlled by bots, and there’s an organized effort by political actors to create these infodemics. It’s only going to get worse if companies that control communications don’t reign it in somehow. Thank goodness there’s a fact checker for Trump’s Twitter microphone. It’s a step in the right direction, though he and others have long escaped the banhammer of Twitter’s terms of service.
Michael Bloomberg, in his last chance effort to become the Democratic nominee for president, bought into this same method of spreading information and spent almost a billion dollars to create his own mass media campaign through propaganda, memes, advertisements, and paying real people to create social media posts that were absolutely ridiculous. And I’m a democrat.
Megaphone, not microphone.
The fact that we are almost all the time connected makes me feel that we are addicted to the mobile culture. However, if you think about it, these days, what isn’t mobile related. Those who like new gadgets, like me, welcome the mobile culture into my home with open arms. I no longer turn on my lights, I just give a voice command and Google home will do it for me.
It disturbs me the dependency that some of us have on mobile culture. I have avoided Facebook as much as I can. I feel that it as if I need to do homework. Every day I need to post something. I moved abroad years ago, I opened an FB account because it was a way to share with my friends what I was doing and how my life was overseas.
Searching for information, communication and even things such as turning on the light have been made easier with this mobile culture. However, I am concerned about our dependency on how to do things by ourselves. Aren’t we losing “something”as we get more involved with the mobile culture?
Hi Silvia,
I understand what you are saying about your dependency on technology. I, too, worry that this dependency is taking away some important skills from us. One must wonder what we are losing to technology. When I had my first mobile phone, I memorized all my friends’s mobile number. But nowadays, I can barely remember my own number as I rely so much on contacts. I guess another good example is my laziness about picking up Chinese even though I have been living in China for many years now. Why bother when I can get my phone to translate for me?
Hello Pascaline,
What you said about the phone numbers, I completely understand. I feel that by not memorizing “stuff” we are freeing memory space. However, are we still using this freed up memory space for something else? I think that we tend to depend more on our technology devices to do it for us.
I tutor math too. When it comes to trigonometry, I still tell my students to memorize the sine and cosine. It is easier and faster when solving problems. They prefer using the calculator. Can’t do anything about it. I think that one question is what should be memorized and what should not.
Originally Posted by allison burnett on 16 Jan 2019
I find it scary that people can do instant, irreversible damage to others through using devices on their mobile phones – in both personal and professional contexts. A very recent example is the photo of the rat in a soup bread bowl that appeared on someone’s personal Instagram account (https://www.instagram.com/p/Br6cGI5hUA_/). Now, I fully agree that this is really disgusting – I am pretty sure I would faint if I saw this in my soup!! However, post-photo investigations conducted are questioning the validity of this photo – in thoroughly reviewing their full production process, they do not see how this could have been missed (https://globalnews.ca/news/4808147/vancouver-rat-soup-bowl-latest/). The restaurant believes that the video and photo were staged, and that the user was looking for their own publicity from creating a viral story online. Investigations believe that the rat could possibly have ended up in the soup at some point, and state that the video/photo could indeed be real – however, they also note that the video is short and so they can’t 100% confirm its authenticity. So the question is: what is the truth? It may very well indeed be that there was a rat found in the soup (and if so, then the appropriate penalities need to be applied) – however, the world found out before any investigation was allowed to uncover what they felt was the truth, and damage done despite it being true or not. The fact that a photo can instantly take down a business and a family’s livelihood before the proper process is allowed to play out is scary. I worry about the same damage that one photo or video can do to a kid (well, to anyone really) – I have heard several stories from middle and high school where someone captures an awkward photo of another kid and posts it online, and then suddenly the kid in the photo/video becomes a target for bullying… and at the same time, social media channels like Instagram seem to be an integral social channel for teens today (https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/10/teens-face-relentless-bullying-instagram/572164/) I admit I’m nervous for my boys when they get to that age and stage (encouraging and positive stories to appease my nerves are welcome, lol!)
I think we see a lot of this on Yelp and businesses are now starting to refuse to be on Yelp. Some people use platforms like this as a revenge tool when they are unsatisfied with service. Even when a negative review or a fake photo is discredited, the damage, like you say, has already been done.
Originally Posted by rstpierre on 24 Jan 2019
The thing that I dislike the most about mobile technology in the classroom is the position it puts me in to become a “phone cop”. I allow and encourage laptops and smart phones in my French classes for access to online dictionaires and other study aids (Quizlet, in particular). However, I know that many students are using them for texting or browsing the Internet when they should be paying attention or doing their work. Before the introdution of these technologies, it was much easier to see if a student was on task or not. Now, with their screens facing towards them and away from my eyes, when I see them typing something, I really can’t tell whether they are texting a friend or looking up a word on Wordreference.com. Most times, my call is right, when say something like, “Stop texting and get back to work.”, but I have been wrong too. “But, I was just looking up a word!” is sometimes the response. If I believe it, I offer an apology, but I hate being put in this situtation. I have talked to them about trust and responsibility and appropriate use, but many don’t have the interest or maturity to use their devices exclusively for academic reasons.
The school where I work at allows mobile phones in class. I had the same problem with my students. What I do, it to place a little box near the door. When students come into my class, the student needs to leave it in the box. Once the class is over, they can pick it up. I allow them to borrow computers from the library should they need to search for something, but no cellphones. That is with my high school students. It is hard for me to do that with my adult students since they all work and sometimes need to reply to a work-related message. Plus, I think adults more self-conscious when it is adequate to use a cellphone.
I like to travel and also like to post my travelling photos on my social media. I haven’t thought about this problem from this perspective before, but now since we are discussing it, I could also see some hazards about this behaviour.
1. People will constantly try to compete with each other about how good of a picture or pose they can make at the same spot.
2. People spend more time to try and take a good selfie instead of spending those time on actually enjoying the view.
3. A former co-worker and currently a travel/ adventurous social influencer, he became famous for doing bold action and taking beautiful photos of him travelling around the world. The video I remember is that he was on the super narrow wooden planks of Hua Shan, China (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wd-T_YTfxDs) and he unclipped the harness. I get it, it’s cool, it’s brave. But it’s also super dangerous, and we don’t want students or children to learn from that. Especially, we don’t want them to fall off just because they wish to imitate that action, with digital gadgets in their hands and wasn’t paying attention to the feet.
Originally Posted by Marc Tavares on 16 Jan 2019
What bothers me about mobile culture is the realtime oversharing of vacation and travel photos. I often tend to romanticize and miss the analog days when vacations were used to escape daily life and you’d abstain from communicating unnecessarily with anyone back home. It was nice to sometimes receive a postcard from what felt like a world away. When you came home, you’d get together with friends or family to share stories and photos from your travels. Now we receive an almost constant, real-time stream of people’s vacation highlights over media, making that analog, in-person experience less frequent. As much as I’m glad people are traveling more and seeing the world as a result of what they learn on social media (https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/travel-interests/arts-and-culture/how-instagram-is-changing-travel/), traveling for the sake of impressive instagram photos seems extreme. Especially when people die trying to get the perfect selfie (https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/06/13/selfie-death-british-woman-plummets-40ft-picturesque-sea-wall/).
This reminds me of a conversation I had with a friend not too long ago who said something similar – they found sharing of vacation and travel photos disturbing. To be honest, I didn’t understand why. I’m not really into social media and I log in every once in a while. Maybe if I was super involved, it would bother me more. My friend argued that traveling is a privilege and posting picture is basically throwing your privilege in the face of others who may be less fortunate. I could see where she was coming from, but had never thought of it that way.
This is something that also disturbs me, but extends beyond just vacation pictures. Many people feel the need to post minute aspects of their life that most people don’t really care to even see. Recording an entire concert in a series of shaky videos to post on an Instagram story, photos of their carefully laid out breakfast, group photos with friends that took half an hour to perfect–these are some examples of events that I feel would have been more valuable if just lived in the moment instead of carefully orchestrated for social media that others would look at for a second before continuing their scrolling.
Originally Posted by Brogan Pratt on 15 Jan 2019
Short Term Validation Seeking Behaviour correlated to increased anxiety in iGen (those born after 94). Unfortunately, with the rise of social media, so to has come the rise of validation seeking behaviour, constant connectivity, and a dramatic increase in teen anxiety rates and suicidal thoughts (Dramatically shifted after 2008, Jean Twenge’s book iGEN, is a fantastic primer in this (https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/iGen/Jean-M-Twenge/9781501152016)). There has been a dramatic increase in undergraduate students reporting 62% in the US experiencing overwhelming anxiety in their studies (up from 50% in 2011, and 18% in 1985); Not good. This trend has been rising dramatically (correlated with an increase in our internet usage (yes correlation /=/ causation, however, this is quite a strong trend, and is certainly a contributing factor) each year since 2008, and the increase of mobile culture certainly isn’t helping. The hardest part of dealing with an addictive mobile culture is continuing to build resilience and autonomy throughout.
Originally Posted by Mark on 22 Jan 2019
My pet peeve about mobile technology is that we are becoming a culture that has lost all patience and that is unimpressed with everything. We have lost that sense of amazement because we take for granted everything that technology provides us with – if a website takes longer then 5 seconds to load we are very quick to complain. Oh the horror, should Internet access be slow at school – what will students do? Louis C.K. did a great bit on the Conan O’Brien show where he addresses how everything is amazing, but people are still unhappy. One of the things that I show my students when they start to complain. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEY58fiSK8E
Originally Posted by Lane Hardy on 21 Jan 2019
… is not knowing when enough is enough. I find it sad to sit in restaurants, etc., and watch what has traditionally been a time for families to connect turn into a time for families to disconnect. Adults (specifically parents) need to teach their children by leading by example. I don’t believe it is fair to let teachers pick up that slack by using a student’s valuable learning time.
Originally Posted by mikemo44 on 21 Jan 2019
What disturbs me is that we are in uncharted territory and don’t know what the effects heavy mobile use and dependency might have on brain development. With so much stimulus clawing for our attention, we run the risk of missing out on some key developmental learning moments. I was surprised the other day when I found out that 5 students in my grade 7 class could either not swim or ride a bike. They all love and adore their mobile devices but it had me wondering if this adoration is responsible for them not learning these fundamental skills of play. If this is the case, then I can only assume that these kids are missing out on other, less obvious, developmental milestones.
I believe that parents should also have kids disconnect once in a while. From the time when I used to go out, it was very rare to see a family that neither of the family members was using a mobile device. Sometimes kids nag to much and the easiest way is to give the mobile phone and entertain themselves. The adult is not bothered and the kid is happy.
We are getting lazier every day. Our society has become machine-dependent. As long as the machine can do it, why not? Kids will prefer to be playing games on mobile devices rather than going out and enjoy a walk or even get dirty playing in the back yard. As the mobile culture spreads, can you imagine how future generations will be?