The mania that is...MOBILE MEDIA

The mania that is…Mobile Media: (BLOG 29th August)

Last weeks lecture on Mobile Media raised some interesting points about the human connection (and possibly slight obsession) with techno gadgets, and how they are like prosthetics to us. My cell phone could well easily become a part of my hand or ear from texting or calling, but its not until you actually sit down and think about it, that you realise it is pretty much with you 24 hours of the day, 7 days a week. If the battery starts to run low, we panic, because the thought of not having it there to keep us company is beyond anything imaginable (speaking sarcastically, although some people do actually panic when their phones die). Just like all other commodities in our culture, the old one is replaced with a new one, because it can do even more to entertain us, and make us feel important.

When I got my very first cell phone in 5th form (it was one of those Alcatel ‘Clubs’, I think there was another model called ‘Max’, they were some of the very first ‘cool’ ones to come out for the teenage niche) I took it with me everywhere. To school, to the toilet, while I was showering (because I thought I was that important!), it was a serious obsession. Although I still take my phone with me most places, I’ve learnt it’s not a necessity to have 24/7, but more a want, and probably more a want to feel wanted, and for someone to contact me.

There will forever be debate on whether mobile media are the curse to our anti-socialism. This is true in a way, but as Luke mentioned, mobile media are not necessarily to blame for our anti-socialism. Most days when I’m walking to Uni, I will look at people coming towards me, but as soon as they come within a 10-foot distance of me, I will automatically pull out my phone, in order to avoid making any contact with them whatsoever. Even though they probably pose no threat to me at all, I don’t know them in the end, so the romanticised notion of everyone being friendly and talking to each other gets blown out the window. This is just how our society works, and at the end of the day, it’s each to their own. If someone doesn’t want to talk to someone else, then they don’t have to. They can simply kick back and rely on the comforts of their… mobile media.