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The Politics of Sousveillance

            “New Media and the Power Politics of Sousveillance in a Surveillance-Dominated World” is a paper that examines the surveillance and under sight “sousveillance” in a network mediated by technologies such as phones, wearable-computing devices, and technologies (Mann et al., 18).  With the increase of mobiles phones, smartphones, and portable devices, there is a new type of power associated with the surveillance of these devices. By using these devices consumers are being surveilled and are being a part of societies of control. As noted by Deuze in “No Life Outside Media” consumers may be monitored, tracked, or watched while using such digital devices without their knowledge (Deuze, 103). Although many users believe that they are using portable devices that are communicating to a certain recipient, many people may be surveilling users every move. By putting users in this society of control it shapes people as they realize that others may see their private messages. Surveillant systems in the iPhone are also related to Foucault and the panopticon. As learned in the course, the panopticon is a concept that revolves around surveillance for monitoring and supervising peoples behaviour (Mann et al., 23).  

            This surveillance mechanism is used both in a disciplinary institution and within an iPhone, which seem like two completely different subjects, however the concepts of supervision remain the same. The disciplinary society is based on the continuous surveillance and examination of its participants as noted by Deuze (Deuze, 104). The panopticon model suggests that because we believe an authoritarian power is watching over us, we fear punishment, and willingly participate because we do not want to get into trouble. As explained by Mann, in modern democracies the gaze of surveillance and the threat of being caught encourages most citizens to obey, and to become docile bodies (Mann et al., 24). This model applies to the iPhone as a technological device, as its users are shaped and monitored by a capitalist society who provides them with the product in the first place. 

            Today devices such as the iPhone are known as one of the major technologies for communication because of its many features that allows users to communicate both quickly and efficiently worldwide. Many consumers have misconceptions about the iPhone because it is a portable device, but as consumers are purchasing into the Apple brand, they are buying into a capitalist society. The iPhone is known as a staple of capitalist society, as it is a product controlled by a multi national company and is distributed worldwide. In Deleuze’s “Postscript on the Societies of Control” he discusses how societies of control are a part of technological evolution (Deleuze, 6). This technological evolution that Deleuze discusses is a mutation of capitalism. This is applicable to the iPhone, as technology has evolved and transgressed, so has the smartphone. With the introduction of the iPhone in 2007, the rise of surveillance rose significantly due to technological evolution in society. As the iPhone is one of the primary modes of communication today, consumers often put themselves in risk of being a part of societies of control. Much of the world is put under the surveillance of the capital world, and by using the iPhone, a capitalist made device used to communicate virtually everywhere all over the world. By purchasing Apple products, as consumers we are falling into a capitalist society, and one that is regulating and surveilling our media driven world.

    Works Cited

  Deleuze, G. (1992). Postscript on the Societies of Control. October (59,) 3-7.       

  Deuze, M. (2012). No Life Outside Media. Media Life (pp. 100-130). Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.

  Mann, S., & Ferenbok, J. (2013). New Media and the Power Politics of Sousveillance in a Surveillance-Dominated World. Surveillance & Society, 11(1/2), 18-34.

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The Physical Space and the Electronic Space

           “Pixels, bits and urban space: observing the intersection of the space of information with urban space in augmented reality smartphone applications and peripheral vision displays” discusses the urban environment as a physical and non-psychical space. These spaces are produced out of what Drakopoulou calls the coexistence of everyday life and activities with the space of information (Drakopoulou, 2013). The urban environment uses augmented reality application for the smartphone and peripheral vision to illustrate how digital graphics in a real space creates a new environment. (Drakopoulou, 2013). Today in a digitally advanced society the merging of the physical space and the digital world creates a synthesized urban environment, as it is becoming increasingly difficult to separate the two. The smartphone contains many technologies that allow its users to deliver and transmit data, and therefore the environment is seen to coexist with people and digital devices. As explained by Lev Manovich in “The Language of New Media” our culture has shifted to computer mediated forms of production, distribution, and communication (Manovich, 43). Since computer mediated forms of technology allow for global connectivity, a cyberspace is created because technologies produce a new space. This new space referred to as a cyberspace, as it is a space that merges the physical and the digital.

           The iPhone and all its capabilities have promoted the emergence of a cyberspace, as society has becoming increasingly reliant and obsessed with their phones. The iPhone has many apps that connect people socially. Facebook for example, is a popular app available on the iPhone that allows users to connect to each other via a social network. Facebook is a merger of data and synthesizes both everyday life and digital life by communicating through a simulated environment. Facebook has progressed to even having Skype and video calling options, making real time everyday interaction very possible through the iPhone. As noted earlier, smart devices such as the iPhone have many different technological components that represent different entities. (Drakopoulou, 2013). The iPhone uses visual layering which is necessary in order to represent the physical space and the electronic space. A great example of this is the Google map app. The app uses visual layering in order to depict an illustrative example of an urban environment. As the image is digitally created, the image is actually layered and the map is a digital image in the form of digital graphics superimposed onto another image (Drakopoulou, 2013). With capacities available such as Facebook and Google Maps, it is no wonder that the iPhone has transformed the urban space into a space where more users are turning to the cyberspace.

            The iPhone itself is a technology that uses layering, and so are all the features included on the phone. By employing the mode of visual layering, space is seen as an intersection of actual space and a digital space (Drakopoulou, 2013). By merging together the “pixels and bits” of the urban space, the iPhone has created a new space to communicate in. By offering services that feel like real-time interaction, users communicate more frequently by having easy access to a cyberspace on their mobile devices. The iPhone employs modes of digital reality as it uses technology to create an environment that seems to be authentic and real, when really it is a visually layered graphic representing an actual space.

    Works Cited

  Drakopoulou, S. (2013). Pixels, bits and urban space: Observing the intersection of the space of information with urban space in augmented reality smartphone applications and peripheral vision displays. First Monday, 18(11). doi:10.5210/fm.v18i11.4965

  Manovich, L. (2001). The Language of New Media. (pp. 19-48). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

  Manovich, L. (2006). The poetics of urban media surfaces. First Monday, 0. doi:10.5210/fm.v0i0.1545

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Apple's newest iPhone models, iPhone 5S and 5C are off to a great start. According to Apple, 9 million phones were sold within the first three days after the launch of the newest models. 

How explosive do you think the launch of the potential iPhone 6 will be?

Link to chart:  http://www.statista.com/chart/1486/launch-weekend-iphone-sales/

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Cultural Values and Norms Associated with Phone Use

           “A cross-national study of cultural values and contextual norms of mobile phone activity” by Robert Shuter and Sumana Chattopadhyay, is an academic study that examines the impact of cultural values on mobile phone activity, defined as calling, text messaging, or the use of other smart phone functions when conversing face-to-face with others (Shuter, 61). The study explores the mobile phone in regards to its use in public settings, and acceptable contextual norms (Shuter, 61). By exploring sociocultural factors that impact the social uses of mobile phones, it will advance our understanding of what Shuter calls intercultural new media studies- the intersection of new media and intercultural communication (Shuter, 62). The study found that Americans preferred phone activity instead of face-to-face communication. Today the norm of phones is that you can expect them to be everywhere. Since phones are so prominent within society there are some norms that have been constructed around the use of the phone. Examples such as the use of mobile phones on the streets, in movie theatres, at the dinner table, and certain social settings, all have expectations of how phones should be used in that setting. These norms have been constructed by society because mobile phone users are so addicted to the virtual reality associated with their phones that they do not notice their physical surroundings.

           In “Cyberculture”, Lévy discusses simulation and the scale of virtual worlds. Lévy believed that information systems are designed to 1. Simulate interaction between a given situation and a person, and 2. To provide the human explorer with fine real-time control of his or her representative in the model of the simulated situation (Lévy 51). The norms of phone activity within each culture may have differ from culture to culture. Thinking about the mobile phone in terms of a cultural approach, mobile phone activity like all human activity, may be linked to cultural values of society (Shuter, 68). What the mobile phone is essentially doing is changing the variability of values across people. The iPhone is a product available to people all over the world, of many different cultures, and it serves as a prominent driver of human interaction. IPhones as a complex technological device have the capability to meet the cultural needs of possibly any user, and thus allow cultural values to spread through mobile phone activity.

           With apps that are so widespread and simulate real life interaction, it is no wonder people turn to the virtual reality the phone entails.The phone also has many apps that can connect users together and create a sense of a simulated situation. Although the iPhone may seem like a real-time mode of communication, it is an illusion of reality (Lévy, 52). The iPhone allows for cultural values to spread because of its wide resources, as people can join groups, Facebook, clubs, Tumblr, blogs, forums, discussions posts, or any form of interactive communication straight on their phone. The phone enables the users to be an interactive part of an online community that shares cultural values and similar ideas on culture by the tap of a finger. The iPhone is a technological medium that provides both the ability for cultural values to grow through a simulated world and in a scale of virtual worlds.

  Works Cited

Shuter, R., & Chattopadhyay, S. (2014). A cross-national study of cultural values and contextual norms of mobile phone activity. Journal of Multicultural Discourses, 9(1), 61-70.

Lévy, P. (2001). Cyberculture. Cyberculture Vol. 4 (pp. 22-57). Minneapolis, Minn.: University of Minnesota Press.

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Hackers And The Introduction of the App Store

           When the iPhone was first introduced in 2007, consumers were amazed with its feature set. It became known as the first smartphone in many years to completely redefine the industry into what we know it as today. Probably its most underrated but most important feature was its capacitive touch screen. This was a significant upgrade from other smartphones during this time period because it had a much sharper resolution than anything else on the market but more importantly allowed Apple to remove the physical keyboard because of its accuracy and responsiveness. For Apple, this meant that it could develop Apps that truly fit the entire display without having the need to squish visuals and text into a poor quality display in about half the size. It also changed how we browse the web on a mobile device today. Utilizing features like pinch – to –zoom, Apple was able to develop the first truly usable mobile device browser. It would take over a year until Google came out with a comparable feature for their mobile operating system Android. 

           When consumers finally got their hands on this device they truly realized its potential but also how much Apple had limited them in terms of side loading applications. This phone could open apps in a breeze and display them on its then unheard of 3.5-inch capacitive touch screen display.  In addition to consumers, developers soon realized how much potential the iPhone had for applications not developed by Apple. The phone launched with a mediocre set of applications but soon enough thanks to hacking this would change. Through a term called “jailbreaking”, developers could hack into the iPhone operating system and install their own software. This would allow them to add additional features and applications not officially approved by Apple. The company soon caught on to this and realized the amount of revenue they were missing out on if they didn’t act quickly. They also felt it was better for the consumer if they created a set of parameters through which official applications could be installed on the iPhone.

           In Wark’s piece “Hackers” he speaks to this idea of companies building safeguards in response to hackers, “The crackdown on hacker culture in its more transgressive sense, and the containment of the hacker ethic in its more benign sense, are two parts of the process of the commodification of computing networks” (Wark, 2). Within a year of releasing the iPhone, Apple soon opened up their now iconic App store, which now has over 1 million apps. Apple took advantage of the fact, that developers were willing to create high quality mobile applications for their products in exchange for a percentage of the revenue. When an App is purchased through the App store, Apple keeps 30% of the revenue while the developer keeps 70%. For the developer it’s great for three reasons. Firstly, they get to legally sell their App, which could generate a significant amount of profit as well. Secondly, it creates brand recognition through which they can develop and sell other apps and paraphernalia like we have seen with Angry Birds. Thirdly, through the App store they reach a significantly larger community than if they decided to just stay accessible through the channels of jailbreaking.

Works Cited

Wark, McKenzie. "Hackers." Theory, Culture & Society 23.2-3 (2006): 320-322.

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No, the iPhone isn’t making us dumber

           The millennial generation has an incredibly difficult uphill battle. With the introduction of devices like the iPhone we can see how our attention is constantly being shifted from the world around us to our to our Facebook notifications or the Leafs score. As noted in Nicholas Carr’s article “Does the Internet make you Dumber”, the author explains that there is growing scientific evidence that proves this question to be true. “People who are continually distracted by emails, alerts, and other messages understand less than those who are able to concentrate. And people who juggle many tasks are less creative and less productive than those who do one thing at a time” (Carr). I think this undermines the importance of the iPhone and other connected devices. With these devices always connected to the Internet, we have the entire encyclopedia of human knowledge at our fingertips. This is a huge step in our ability to disseminate knowledge and information. I also believe that the claim about productivity is simply dependent on the kind of productivity we are speaking to. Yes, when studying for exams being able to access your social feeds on your iPhone can definitely be distracting. From a corporate side, being able to access your calendar, emails and browser on the go from anyway in the world is incredibly important in the day-to-day operations of many businesses.

             It is also important to look at how the author is defining “dumber”. If I am sitting on the bus heading to work, I can look at Twitter and see what’s going on in the world around me, domestically and internationally. I can easily catch up on world events that I would otherwise completely overlook if I didn’t own an iPhone. Being able to access massive online news feeds allows us to be informed about all types of issues that may personally affect us. Especially with media channels like television and newspaper, many of the stories published through these mediums have a slanted point of view due to political and corporate alliances. While, these views can be replicated through social media, there is more of a democratizing process as the viewer is able to see a significantly larger amount of responses and messages. With this in mind, the continued growth of connected devices like the iPhone means that we must acknowledge the importance of media literacy training. This is going to be an increasingly valuable skill as these devices continue to become more embedded in our education system. We must learn and understand their benefits but also the detriments they create.  

           On the other hand, our education system must still focus on teaching basic literacy and numeracy skills so kids growing up with these devices don’t solely reliant on them. Children still need to learn addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, as these are life techniques that will be used regardless if they have their iPhone on them or not. We need to put an emphasize on this kind of training as sadly, I still know adults who are over the age of 20 that still can’t do their multiplication tables over 7 x 7.

Works Cited

Carr, Nicholas. "Does the internet make you dumber." Wall Street Journal 5.10 (2010).

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What do you think the next generation of iPhone will look like!?

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The Emergence of the Second Screen

           When the radio and Internet were first introduced, they were looked at as very independent channels of communication. The TV was seen as a progression of the radio by adding a visual element that was otherwise limited to film. It created a whole new dimension of mass media that had not been seen before. With the exponential adoption of the iPhone and other connected media devices, there has been a transformation in how these devices have affected the communication channels that came before it. The idea of the second screen has changed the way the user interacts with their media. The second screen allows for a constant two-way conversation between the producer and the viewer. Mashable a popular technology website defines the second screen as “the use of an additional monitor (e.g tablet, smartphone) while watching television. It allows the audience to interact with what they are consuming whether it is a TV show, video game or movie” (www.mashable.com).

           An example that comes to mind is during the weekly broadcast of Hockey Night in Canada on CBC. Through their television broadcast, the announcers will advertise that viewers can tweet in questions using a specific hashtag. During the intermission the analysts will read the question on air and give their professional answer. This can also happen during radio shows using the same method. The host will announce over the air that listeners can participate in the broadcast by tweeting in their opinions from which the host will read them off in real time. For the producer this is incredibly beneficial as it gives them another way of connecting and retaining their audience. Additionally, for advertisers who are paying a significant sum of money for ad time, giving viewers a reason to stay locked in on a particular channel is incredibly important and valuable. This kind of viewer engagement utilized by one channel, gives them better odds that viewers will actually watch the advertisement instead of just changing channels waiting for the game action to start again. For the viewer it also gives them a completely new avenue to interact with fellow fans and media professionals. It creates a more intimate communication environment that becomes more representative of the engaged population and as a nation of fans.

           Additionally, these broadcasters have been able to build their desired brands using social media channels to maintain this channel of communication, before, during and after a program. For example, the Toronto Maple Leafs have designated a specific hashtag (#tmltalk) for their fans to interact with each other. The broadcasters recognize that these viewers will be using this second screen regardless of their physical location and provides a channel for them to connect and share their opinions. As there are Leaf fans all over the world this provides MLSE an opportunity to grow and strengthen the Leafs community regardless of physical location. The broadcasters have been taken the critical step in integrated  specialized channels in their broadcasters that allows for increased user engagement through the 2nd screen.

Works Cited

http://mashable.com/category/second-screen/

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The iPhone: a transition from the public space to the personal public sphere

           “New Media Technologies and The Transition to Personal Public Sphere”, by Ana Morais is a paper that examines how the mobile phone has become one of the dominant forms of communication and information conduits for most individuals in Canada (Morais, 4). Morais’ qualitative study investigates mobile technologies, particular in relation to user’s lives. Morais’ believes that mobile devices in Canada are understudied. One of the most prominent criteria in the paper is on how the use of the mobile phone has distanced face-to-face interaction. As learned in “Alone Together”, Sherry Turkle says “these days, being connected depends not on our distance from each other but from available communication technology (Turkle, 155). The iPhone has changed communication in terms of the distance barrier. A popular feature on the iPhone allows users to video chat on their phones using a feature called Face Time, anywhere across the world. New technologies such as the iPhones have the technology and capability to give users real life experience through a technology. Having private devices in a public space has changed social interaction and has re-shaped the public sphere. Ultimately the world of the mobile phone is a cyberspace, which is a simulated environment where humans interact.

           As noted earlier, Face Time is a technology that creates a cyberspace where humans interact in a simulated environment (Featherstone, 5). Turkle also believes that the private and public spheres are being re-shaped due to private devices in public space. By using the iPhone, users are entering a private virtual space rather then interacting within a real one. By providing what Jaron Lanier called a “virtual reality”, the iPhone creates a real and simulated environment in which users believe what they are seeing is realistic, although it is computer generated (Featherstone, 5). The iPhone is then a medium the simulates presence through the use of technology, which in turn leads to the decline of face-to-face communication.

           In addition to the phone creating a private space within a public environment, Turkle notes ‘always-on’ you popularity of the device (Turkle, 129). This idea entails that the phone is always turned on and is always within reach of the users. By always having the phone around it changes human productivity and social connectedness. Revisiting back to technological convergence, mobile phones have many features such as calling, texting, photo, gaming, and browsing capabilities (Morais, 23). Technological convergence and the abilities of such features on a single device is why users are so engrossed in the devices. In her study, Morais quotes Turkle, who believes that the rise of mobile devices in the public space has become a world of private little media bubbles. Anywhere you go in public, whether its the subway or the grocery store, you will see someone paying attention to their phone instead of to the environment around them. What Turkle and Morais both say is that the mobile phone is so diverse and has so many features that people don’t feel the need to interact in public anymore as they are fully connected online from their phone. With technologies such as the iPhone that have basically every feature users would need, it is no wonder we live in a simulated environment where face-to-face communication is diminishing. 

     Works Cited

  Featherstone, M. and Burrows, R. (1995). Cyberspace/Cyberbodies/Cyberpunk: Cultures of Technological Embodiment. London, Thousand Oaks, New Delhi: Sage Publications, pp. 1-19.

  Morais, A. (2013). New Media Technologies and The Transition to Personal Public Spheres: Exploring the Circuit of Mobile Device Use Model (unpublished doctoral dissertation). Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA.

  Turkle, S. (2011). Alone Together: Why we expect more from Technology and Less from each other. (pp. 151-209). New York: Basic Books. 

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The iPhone-photographer

            When the iPhone was first introduced back in 2007, the device focused on three things, its mobile web experience, being the first touchscreen iPod, and widescreen video playback. Fast forward to 2014 some of the most successful and well-known apps on the device are actually photography apps. Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram are all contenders for the most popular free app in the App Store on iTunes. With the constant upgrades in camera hardware since its introduction in 2007, the iPhone has been able to keep another device out of our bags, the point and shoot camera. This happened because of Apple’s decision to allow communication between apps and the devices photo albums, which makes sharing photos a breeze. These speaks directly to what Manovich defines as automation, “Numerical coding of media, and modular structure of a media object allow to automate many operations involved in media creation, manipulation and access” (Manovich, 53). I can take a photo on my iPhone and then use one of the multiple Apps available to quickly editing settings like, cropping, lighting and focus. After these actions are complete, the photo can be auto-uploaded to one of the many photo-sharing services like Instagram and Flickr. With the rise of the Web 2.0, and major movements like social media and personal blogging, taking photos on the go is an incredibly useful product. When news companies are reporting on stories they will often use a picture or video posted by a first responder at the scene as evidence that an event is taken place. Interestingly, this first responder is not their own staff anymore but anyone who carries around a smartphone. Because of the Internet’s always on connectivity there is a better chance that a bystander at the scene will have already uploaded a picture to one of their social media accounts by the time the reporter will get there.

              Additionally, we can see this kind of trend through other previous technology introductions. When the radio and television were first introduced it became feasible to purchase one of these devices as a way to stay connected with the world. The iPhone is just another progression in this direction of always being connected to the world around them. This product has allowed any person to become a photographer, which allows them to capture the memories that they want to remember forever. It is also the choice of the photographer if they want to share them with the world or keep them just for themselves. Looking at Flickr specifically, the 4 most popular cameras that post pictures to the website are iPhones (https://www.flickr.com/cameras). It is clear that this product line is the one people turn to if they do want to ditch their point and shoot. When the quality is almost or at par with many of these camera’s there is simply no reason to carry around a second device, additionally when the iPhone offers significantly more ancillary features like geo-tagging, 3G connectivity and auto-uploading right out of the box.

Works Cited

Manovich, Lev. "What Is New Media?." The language of new media. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2002. 43-65. Print.

https://www.flickr.com/cameras

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Has the iPhone Redefined Gaming Culture?

            With the release of the iPhone and other “always on” devices we have seen a massive influx of apps that allows individuals to connect to the internet but more specifically larger more specialized communities through which they are able to interact with others. Sherry Turkle, in her piece “Life On The Screen” speaks about the idea of Multi User Domains (MUDs). She explains “MUDS put you in virtual spaces in which you are able to navigate, converse and build. You join a MUD through a command that links your computer to the computer on which the MUD program resides” (Turkle, 11). In 1995, when this article was published, mobile devices were still grey bricks that functioned very much like the original computers. They had very specific tasks with little room for innovation. The idea was that they could do one (maybe two) tasks very well but a tertiary device was always needed. Within the past 15 years, we have seen how this product category has completed shifted from the mobile phone to the mobile device. This is because the functionality has increased exponentially and they are so much more complex than the previous devices that just made phone calls.

           Through the introduction of Apple’s App Store in 2008, MUDs have now gone portable bringing the same type of interactions that one would experience through regular desktops but on a device they can fit in their pocket. Apps that come to mind are Farmville, The Simpson’s Tapped Out and Minecraft. Turkle explains that once a user enters the MUD they have the ability to completely redefine who they are. “As players participate, they become authors not only of text but of themselves, constructing new selves through social interaction” (Turkle, 12). These apps are quite similar to the ones she brought up in piece like Dungeons and Dragons. While the previous generation of MUDs might have negative connotations attached to them, like that the users were nerds or geeks, new embedded cultural aspects have opened up this category to a vast amount of participants. By tying in popular culture references like The Simpsons, these apps reach a much larger audience base, which allows the developer to accomplish two things. Firstly, they are able to reconnect older fans with arguably the greatest cartoon series of all time and secondly, build a whole new generation of fans through the games addictive nature.

            As well, these MUDs have been able to utilize popular social networks as a way to connect potential gamers with their friends. It is now common to receive Facebook notifications saying “Michael has built a new farm in Farmville, do you want to send him some animals as a gift?” These MUDs have been able to push massive multi online (MMO) games to the mainstream through the use of popular culture references and social media. Portable gaming units like the Nintendo DS and PSP Vita, have been slow to catch up in this regard and still don’t come close to the variety of games that are available through Apple’s App Store. 

Works Cited

Turkle, S. (1995). Introduction: Identity in the Age of the Internet. Life on the screen: Identity in the age of the Internet (pp. 10-26). New York: Simon & Schuster.

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What makes the iPhone so addictive?

            “The Mobile Phone in Everyday Life” by Hannah Rippin, is a paper that examines the everyday use of mobile phones in the US and Canada (Rippin, 2005). Mobile phones more then any other technology have the ability to envelop its users through giving them instant access into their daily lives on a hand held device. A relevant issue discussed in this article refers to the increasing dependence on mobility in the global age. Hannah Rippin, noted that the co-configuration of the mobile is the key to unlocking the meaning and significance of the mobile in every day life (Rippin, 2005). Rippin believes that the particular properties of this technology create new behaviours, which both reflect and generate new social uses of mobile phone technology. As learned throughout communications, the mobile phone plays a role in the development of society. The problem concerning why it is so addictive relates back to where the device actually lies, in the hands of a user. As noted in an opinion piece by Robert Wright, guest columnist for the New York Times, “Technological change makes society more efficient and less personal. We know more people more shallowly (Wright, 2007)”. As the mobile device has grown into a technology that we all rely on due to its efficiency, the more we consume the product the greater significance they gain in our lives and the more they take over. The smartphone is a technology that is efficient, which is one of the criteria that makes it so addictive.

            Efficiency is one thing made very prominent within society throughout history. Everyone always wants to get what he or she needs to get as quickly as possible. The introduction of early computing devices allowed efficiency as machines took over the role of humans (Schaffer, 2003). This standard of efficiency has transcended over time into society today as we value efficiency equally, and do so by using these technological devices. In post modernist society a social value in a technological system is efficiency and the polysemy of the mobile phone. As noted by Rippin, the mobile phone has many subtle meanings and uses induced by context (Rippin, 2005). Polysemy is referred to as a text with many meaning, and the iPhone has many meaning related it to is besides basic texting and calling. As explained by Marx in lecture 2, being efficient means everything is more productive and fast. iPhones as a technology that is polysemic, allows users to use the phone for multiple purposes such as Internet browsing, games, video calling, banking etc.

           In “Babbage as Intelligence”, Schaffer believed that machines and automation allowed for efficiency, as machines did not allow for errors like humans did (Schaffer, 210). Rather then taking the chance of forgetting to set your alarm manually, you know that the one time you program your alarm into your iPhone, it will stay there until you change it. The iPhone acts as a hybrid technology that allows for its users to use a multitude of programs and apps that help organize their lives. The iPhone acts as a technological medium that represents a new post modernist value of efficiency, as society has high expectations of technology and their functions.

  Works Cited

  Rippin, H. (2005). The Mobile Phone in Everyday Life. Fast Capitalism, 1. 

  Schaffer, S. (1994). Babbage’s Intelligence: Calculating Engines and the Factory System. Critical Inquiry, 21(1), 203-227.

  Wright, R. (2007, April 17). E-Mail and Prozac. The New York Times. Retrieved April 2, 2014, from http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/17/opinion/17wright.html?_r=0

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  Steve Jobs 1955-2011

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iPhone 6?

As the iPhone 5c and 5s have only been around for a few months, the world is waiting on Apple to release its newest technology. Rumoured to be released sometime this upcoming summer, the unofficially named iPhone 6 is allegedly going to come equipped with many new upgrades. Although nothing has been confirmed or released, it is expected that Apple’s next-generation iPhone will have many structural changes. Many articles and blogs online predict a thinner, faster, and lighter phone that will likely feature an Ultra Retina Screen with a larger screen size then other iPhones. The most interesting of the rumoured Apple iPhone 6 features is the sapphire screen. As the current iPhone screens are known to shatter frequently, it is rumoured that sapphire screens will replace the current screen as it is a more durable material. If this information is officially confirmed, this may be one of the most successful generations of iPhone and quite possibly one of Apple’s greatest technologies. 

Below is a rumoured image of what the iPhone 6 may look like:

What do you think of the new potential iPhone 6?

Works Cited

Tsukayama, Hayley. “Apple iPhone 6 rumors: the good, the bad and the wacky.” The Washington Post. The Washington Post, 13 Mar. 2014. Web. 13 Mar. 2014. < http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2014/03/13/apple-iphone-6-rumors-the-good-the-bad-and-the-wacky/?tid=pm_business_pop>

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A Screen Addicted Culture

           The iPhone has become one of the most indispensable parts in the lifestyles of its owners. The evolution of such smartphones like the iPhone has become one of the primary modes of communication in society today. Our immersion and interaction with these technologies has undoubtedly changed the way we communicate. As a fellow iPhone owner myself, I can whole-heartedly say that we live in a generation of technology crazed people who rely heavily upon their iPhone for everyday uses. With technologies such as the iPhone, communication is changing into a more technological age. As the iPhone provides its users with so much real world interactivity with the swipe of a finger, it is no use that it is one of the most heavily consumed technologies on the market today.

           A study done at Stanford University confirmed that Apple’s smart phone can be addicting. The school administered a survey to 200 students who own iPhones, 70 percent of which had owned their iPhones for less than a year (Hope, 2010).  Nearly 85% of the iPhone users said they used their phones as a replacement for a watch, 89% used it as an alarm clock. In fact, 75 percent admitted to falling asleep with the iPhone in bed with them (Hope, 2010). The iPhone as a technology in this sense is replacing reality itself. As the iPhone has the capacity to fulfill everyday tasks through the use of a device, it is successfully replacing real world human interaction.  This study shows how students rely so heavily on their iPhones and how they have basically become an extension of their bodies.  

           Professor Tanya Luhrmann, a Stanford professor who oversaw the survey, voted that one of the most striking things seen in the interviews was how people identified with their phone. She added that it was not so much with the object itself, but it had so much personal information that it became a kind of extension of the minds and a means to have a social life (Hope, 2010). Although the iPhone has developed a new and successful form of electronic communication in turn it has changed human communication. 

           Recently I stumbled upon this Apple iPhone 4s commercial on the Huffington Post. This video shows as a great example of the social implications that have risen out of the use of iPhones and how they have transformed communication.

  Apple iPhone 4s Commercial:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I25Z4fkOlTk

In this commercial there is no verbal communication although the character in the shot is not pictured alone. The only communication and conversation you see in the commercial is with Siri. Siri is the intelligent personal assistant you use on your iPhone. The application answers questions, makes recommendations, and performs actions that you delegate. Siri acts as a social implication that has come out of this digital media, as “she” is overtaking communication in a new digital way. The use of the iPhones and the interaction with Siri just proves that humans are embodying technology. Rather then asking the individual next to them the question, they pose it to Siri instead, just further showing that we depend on these technologies. As we are slowly merging and converging with technologies like the iPhone, we are more absorbed in our phone screens and less consumed with the real world.

Works Cited

  Gregoire, Carolyn. "This Apple Commercial Sums Up Everything That's Wrong With Our Screen-Addicted Culture." The Huffington Post. The Huffington Post, 14 Oct. 2013. Web. 26 Feb. 2014. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/14/iphone-            ad_n_4096997.html>.

  Hope, Dan. "iPhone Can Be Addicting, Says New Survey." NBC News. Tech News Daily, 3 Aug. 2010. Web. 26 Feb. 2014. <http://www.nbcnews.com/id/35768107/#.Uw-TYHk0qkc>.