Creating our iSociety

This week’s readings for my class about mobile technologies seem to have a theme of how we are using mobile technologies in daily life. There were diverse uses from Troops staying in touch with families at home, to teens texting each other during class. The technology is even being used to say “good night” and “good morning”.

There seems to be a reference that these devices are becoming an extension of ourselves. While I agree that these devices give us a means of extended contact with our social network and information in general, I don’t believe it should be so personalized. When I drive in my car, it becomes an extension of my legs. But I don’t think of it that way. It is mainly a device that I use to extend my ability to travel distance faster and farther. I think we should view the use of mobile communication devices in the same way. I realize this is an emerging technology, and our perspective on it is yet immature.

It seems the early adopters and the researchers are the ones who have uncertainties about the use of these devices. The youngest generation who are growing up with the technology seem to have found definite uses for them. We may not understand why someone would want to text someone while standing in line in a supermarket, but these people are using the technology in that way, so it has value to them. They are creating uses for the devices that address a perceived need that they have. This is not your father’s telephone. Speaking of which, I’m sure when the conventional phone became available, people wondered why someone would want one of those in their house. Well, we have certainly learned to incorporate it. It is a good example of the duality of technology. We create a technology, that, in turn, creates changes in our social structure.

When adopting new technology, I believe we should always ask “Why?”. Just because you can text message someone from a supermarket line, doesn’t inherently imbue it with value.

I think that for now, we are playing with possibilities. These devices are new and we haven’t figured out what we really want to do with them. In time we will incorporate them, or change how we do things to make the devices useful.