Blog Post 3: Mobile Media
Mobile media is said to transcend the constraints of time and space, and disrupt the social logic of public spaces (Ito, Okabe & Anderson, 2017). What this means is that portable artefacts (inclusive of but not limited to smartphones) are increasingly changing the way we interact with physical spaces and people, leading to the “personalisation of urban places”. In Ito et. al.’s reading, three major types of ‘presence’ in the urban space were identified: cocooning, camping and footprinting.
Being an avid user of portable technological devices and consumer of media myself, I find each genre of presence highly relatable. Cocooning involves using devices and media to create a private territory within the confines of urban spaces. Evidently in our society today, it is a common sight to see people plugged into their earphones on public transport, and even while walking along the streets. This creates a ‘bubble’ around each individual and allows us to momentarily claim personal space, especially during transition from place to place. While I appreciate this affordance by portable device, I find it increasingly difficult to approach people upon seeing them ‘occupied’ by their devices. For example, when I see an acquaintance in school sitting alone and using her phone with earpiece on, I would be more hesitant to say hi because I am unsure if she wants to be ‘disturbed’. However, while mobile media may result in increased social fragmentation with people increasingly wanting to retreat into their own ‘bubble’, one can also argue that the portability of smartphones affords greater social interaction with its convenience and instantaneous communication function. With people increasingly occupied with their personal devices, are there truly public spaces left?
Hence, mobile media has definitely altered the way we interact with urban locations. In terms of camping, I observed that places such as cafes, lounges and (now) even hotels are increasingly designed in such a way that increases its desirability as a ‘camping’ location. The free wifi and power plugs are some examples of how places may be tailored to suit people’s mobile kits (which has become increasingly generic) - e.g. mobile phones, laptops, chargers are some key essentials. Conversely, people’s mobile kits have also shaped our decision to visit places (e.g. consider where has power plugs). Our social practices have shaped urban locations, and vice versa.
Furthermore, footprinting enables the activities of people to be tracked more than ever. With physical reward cards rendering obsolete, people now heavily rely on mobile applications to perform many daily activities, including sustaining their relationships with commercial establishments. In this process of compromising personal data and consumption patterns, many of us still choose to subscribe to email newsletters, download apps to gain/redeem points and agree to their privacy terms and conditions in order to engage with public spaces - which has become increasingly digitised. The question to ask ourselves would be: is it really a choice? In the case of China’s cities where most merchants have gone cashless and rely on the Alibaba platform for economic transactions and retail information, people are left with no other options but to conform to such a system.
To sum up, the more ‘mobile’ our lives are, the more our relationships with public spaces are changing. Mobile media has, and will continue, to shape our lives in many different aspects.