Natalie’s Blog

I’m eating breakfast and it’s next to me on the table. I walk to class and it’s in my pocket. While I sleep it’s charging next to me all night. It’s my cell phone and it’s hard to think of it as simply a piece of technology because of how engrained it is in my life. The truth of the matter is though, when my parents were my age the cell phone wasn’t even invented yet. Unlike “landlines” the technology of cell phones has open up a variety of communication possibilities; text messaging, picture sharing, games, internet access, and the list goes on.

However, not everyone is a member of the privilege group of cell phone users, and those who are not fall lower on the social hierarchy in our society today. A popular back-to-school commercial focused on a family who had recently bought cell phones. As the children prepare to leave for school they speak slowly to their parents explaining ways to use the new technology in their hands. Although the commercial is entertaining and effective it illustrates the sense of power that comes with understanding the new technology.

Cell phones do not only marginalize people who don’t know how to use them but they also marginalize those who are not financially secure enough to afford one. Many people can’t afford cell phones and this “lack” of technology positions them lower on the hierarchical spectrum. My family didn’t invest in cell phones until I was a freshman in college. Our phone plan still doesn’t involve text-messaging and I find interesting the (likely) unintended looks I receive when someone says “I’ll text you” and I have to tell them that that’s just not part of my phone plan.

Exclusion happens with any form of technology from the computer down to the pen and paper. However, with cell phones I feel the spectrum of those marginalized is greater. Many of the elderly and poor are immediately excluded from engaging with this technology. While many middle – aged people who are not used to the expanding realms of communication are left unsure how to properly engage the product.

9-12-08

After class the other day I started thinking about technologies that coincide with cell phones. I thought of teh way that people make Facebook groups when something happens to their cell phone or when they get a new one. I’m not sure if I’m going to continue along this stream of thought but I suppose it’s worth noting.

10-13-08

Last Thrusday (10/9) I was driving from Bowling Green to Cleveland and when I was close to the city I picked up my cell phone and called my house to see if my parents were home. However, when the call connected I was not met with ringing but rather with a rhymic beeping. I hung up my cell phone and asked my boyfriend and best friend (who were with me at the time) what a busy sound sounds like. It may seem strange but there are never busy signals when one is calling from one cell phone to another; instead the caller is sent straight to voicemail. It had been so long since I had heard a busy signal (because of my dependence on my cell phone and lack of a landline) that I had forgotten what it sounded like.

Also, on Saturday (10/11) I was watching an episode of the old Star Trek show from the 60’s with my dad and he commented that the communicators that they use in space function much like that of the cell phone we have today. They space travelers even have communicators that stay in their ears like our cell phone ear pieces today. I found it interesting that a fictionally based show 50 years ago accurately depicted technology today. I thought it was an interesting connection to the piece of technology that I am studying and it makes me wonder – what types of current science fiction will become a reality in the next 10 – 20 years? Will the flying car from “Back to the Future” be a reality? only time will tell.