Through the ages Man has woven a complex fabric of social and cultural systems. Man and machine need to live in harmony today. “Significant socio-technical change has resulted from the proliferation of Internet-based social networks”[1](Tuomi, Ilkka).
There needs to be a social system with a healthy symbiosis between the present communication technology, and the user in the socio cultural context.
We are in the age of virtual networks, mobile social networks, media clouds, smart mobs, online communities, etribes, and thumb tribes, progressing towards setting up entire wireless cities. How will this affect us and our society, will we become so accustomed to mobile technologies that we are rendered totally dependent or will we harness this innovation to supplement our requirements. In the “Shibuya Epiphany” (Rheingold, 2002, p.3) Howard Rheingold describes an alternative meeting space for teens, away from parental supervision and something very fluid. The teenagers flock or swarm to a coffee shop or a game parlor after school by conducting group communications via their mobiles called keitai. The mobile is an essential extension of their physical selves allowing the youth free space and a sense of belonging to a community. The young people stay in touch throughout the day with numerous messages that they can type fast and blindfolded. Some will even forego their lunch allowance to be able to purchase a phone card to stay connected. “Research on SMS suggests that mobile communications is predominantly used to maintain existing personal relationships with a rather small group of peer users”(Groebel, Noam, and Feldman, 2002). The energy and the time that is bestowed via this wireless networking medium shows the desire and need to stay connected to the group. It is an external validation of being loved, wanted, accepted and appreciated by their peers whenever the users receive instant messages. They engage in sharing their mobile messages with each other, a collective form of behavior. “Text messages are circulated among friends, composed together, read together, and fitting expressions or entire messages are borrowed from others” (Rheingold, 2002, p.9).
These mobile forms of connecting make more commercial sense to companies in the mobile arena than social sense to the common man. The teenager today may identify with peers on the basis of mobile communication and this will be touted to further the commercial cause of large organizations. “Sharing of personal data as an expression of connectivity with peers and friends may become an essential revenue driver for mobile operators”(Groebel, Noam, and Feldman, 100). Wireless modes of communication are bringing people into greater contact, and enriching the interpersonal relationships by increasing the ways of keeping in touch. “Mobile technologies reinforce person-to-person community because they foster contact without socio physical context” (Wellman 2005, p.55).
The socio physical context is being complemented by digital tools like PDA’s, BlackBerries, and mobile phones. A meeting between individuals or a group need not be location specific, today’s rapidly evolving technology has been termed Glocalizing (Wellman 2005, p.54). Mobile media does fill in gaps in people’s life that are not up to meeting neighbors and cultivating relationships in conventional societies. The traditional society norm of meeting at a local club or pub with neighbors is on the decline due to work, commuting in private cars to private cubicles and living in apartments and not knowing who your neighbor is. Won’t it be ironical to know that although you never met your next door neighbor face to face yet you belong to the same online community or tribe? “It’s clear that mobile telephony, texting, and mobile Internet services are already affecting social relationships”(Rheingold, 2002, p.13). The subtle changes in the behavioral patterns of the so called thumbs tribe (age group of 14-20), brought about by the use of mobile communications is going to create a huge conflict between them and the rest of society till such CMC becomes a way of life and new acceptable social behavior emerges. The globally pervasive digital communication systems are increasingly affecting what and how we communicate with each other. How is this new media affecting our social systems and culture? What could be the opportunities and threats the networked systems pose to the quality of life?
Let us peek into the underbelly of this mass networking and instant communication without the bounds of geographical distance. In his essay, The Information Bomb, Paul Virilio notes, “A digitally dominated environment is one in which the capacity to distinguish between reality and virtual reality atrophies because people no longer possess the mental ability necessary to actually know the world—or even themselves” [2]. To highlight Virilio’s statement, it was discovered by the Tokyo police that a virtual gang of motorcyclists that had only met via texting, never face to face was responsible for the beatings of 4 members and the killing of one other (Rheingold 2002, p.3). Enough instances have recently come to light where online connections have led to the abuse of kids by pedophiles. Youngsters jump in headlong into new media technology not realizing the consequences of leaving wide open a personal history and data trail online.
In addition, due to the shortened nature of texting, the young user may become so accustomed to it that eventually their skills in writing and grammar may decline. The impact on the mental and physical health of the thumbs tribe will have to be closely studied. Chasing bots, creating mobs, starting new tribes, is well and good for entertainment. How about using this wireless technology to make this a better and safer world! Always on demand communication on mobiles has been causing a number of road accidents. It is supposedly more lethal than drunken driving. Is there such a great need for instant communication? Can’t people wait and speak later? Social reformists need to look at new media devices to further the betterment of society. Organizing impromptu protests against an organization or government is just one type of social activism exercise. Larger issues and better impact can be garnered using such platforms’ for changes in standards of living, privacy issues, rights of citizens along with infotainment, edutainment, relation ship bridges etc. New media technologies like the mobile phone which can influence mob behavior can be put to better use for society and individuals, for instance in search and rescue operations or sharing vital medical statistics. This may take time, because such endeavors’ may not be money spinning ideas to be backed by venture capitalists.
Citations:
Wellman, B. (2005) Community: From Neighborhood to Network. Communications of the ACM, 48(10), 53-55.
Rheingold, H. (2002) Shibuya Epiphany (pp.1-28). Smart Mobs.
Groebel, Jo, Eli M. Noam, and Valerie Feldman. Mobile Media- Content and Services for Wireless Communications. 2nd. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., 2002.
Virilio, Paul. The Information Bomb. Trans. Chris Turner. London: Verso, 2000.
[1] Tuomi, Ilkka Internet, Innovation and Open Source:Actors in the Network 2000
[2]www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlpubs/crljournal/backissues2002b/may02/viriliobookreview.htm
