Cell Phone: Communication tool or a Fashion Statement

Have a look at your cell phone, is it new and shiny or beat up and ready for disposal. I watched a commercial this week (most likely for Rogers) in which they compared cell phones to being in love. Stating that when you first buy it it becomes your shiny new love that you brag about to your friends and flaunt in public but as time goes by that love fads into embarrassment and a need for change. The sad thing is that feeling is a reality for many. Cell phones as a communication tool takes a back seat to style, it becomes an identifier of status. The cell phone market demands turn over of product and constant upgrading to keep up with the times so that you are not left behind. Very little changes in the actual quality or use of the device but rather the look of it, just like, lets say, pants over the last 100 years. It is not just ads on TV that portray this desire to be ahead of fashion but it has been socially constructed into our way of purchasing. A few weeks ago I overheard a conversation on the bus between to young girls in which one was making fun of the other because of her new flip phone. "flips are so out, its all about the sliders now" she says. As the one girl accepts her mistake, I diverted my attention elsewhere and slip my flip phone discreetly into my pocket. Overall I think what ones particular use of the device will depict which phone to buy but just like clothing, cell phones in some sense make a statement about yourself. You have the ability to individualize your phone such as face plates, ringtones, wall paper but are limited in what the market defines as new and cutting edge. Whether we like it or not, that top of the line phone you get free for signing up for a 3 year contract will label you out of touch with technology within 6 months...

Watch What You Say

After spending the last week talking about packet switching, networks, routers ext, I've begun to wonder about how much of our personal information is just floating around. It's kind of weird to think that every e-mail, Facebook pic, banking transaction has been broken down and disseminated into a decentralized network only to be relocated in one place. How much of that do you think is replicated or possibly sent to several destinations? We have put alot of trust in these technologies and we assume that only sender/reciever will have access. The same assumtion should be applied to cell phones. How private are they really? We know from Hollywood movies that criminals and terrorists can be tracked but what about the average network user? With the excessive use of cell phones today we have become obsorbed by an invisible dome of service and survailence. I have a hunch that the iPhones GPS capabilities work both ways, maybe all cell phones have GPS chips and if that was the case anyone of us could be tracked by whoever had access to the technology. Don't worry I'm not suffering from paranoia ( I think), it's just an issue that I have been pondering. I know that accidentally clicking "reply to all" when you don't mean to is bad enough, but having all of your personal info bouncing around a global network on a daily basis is kind of worrysome.

The Inevitable Convergence

Over the years cell phones and the internet have followed similar paths. First designed for institutional use such as the military or government both technologies have trickled down through the ranks of society to be common place in everyday life. This being said it is no surprise that they have eventually ended up converging into nearly identical forms of communication devices. Today cell phones are merely mobile PCs offering all the same functions as well as being owned by the same Internet provider. With the release of iPhone this all became a reality. For the first time a device can harness the power of the Internet, contain GPS technology, store music, videos or simply have streaming content oh and the ability to make or receive calls. Cell phone providers have begun to move away from the actual phone functions of towards essentially wireless Internet. So what implications do you see coming from all of this? I would find it borderline invasive and annoying being alerted everytime someone becomes listed as single on Facebook. There is also issues of complexity, I've seen someone struggle to make a phone call with the iPhone becuase of all the other options available. Than there is ownership and control. Rogers has complete distribution and control rights of iPhone in Canada which I find frustrating becasue of past circumstances. I am no longer allowed to be a customer of Rogers therefor I can not buy an iPhone, I wouldn't anyway but I would still like the option...(for anyone who has actually made it this far in reading my blog you may have noticed spelling errors in my post. For this i apologize but my spell check is on the fritz and without the red skwiggle under the words I'm helpless. )