Cell Phones Changing Social Group Communication 430
Mortimer.CA writes "An interesting article on how cell phones are changing the way people interact and get together in Japan. Some interesting quotations: 'To not have a keitai (cell phone) is to be walking blind, disconnected from just-in-time information on where and when you are in the social networks of time and place.' And the new social faux pas: 'One college student I spoke to described leaving one's phone at home or letting the battery die as "the new taboo."' The article mentions the book Smart Mobs which was mentioned on Slashdot before. I keep thinking how Marshal McLuhan said that our new inventions change the way we view the world. This is 'obvious' now, but was quite a new idea when he thought of it. In the 40s and 50s you "needed" to get a (land line) phone, then it was cars, email, and now cell phones. What's next? Is it simply a matter of keeping up with the Joneses?"
I'm sick of... (Score:3, Insightful)
It's not just a trend in Japan... it's happening here in the US too. And it's not a good thing I think...
-S
PATH-E-TECH (Score:3, Insightful)
The Rules have Changed (Score:5, Insightful)
gotta remember this is a japanease (Score:5, Insightful)
New necessity (Score:4, Insightful)
But the japanese, are, weird :) (Score:3, Insightful)
This isn't the "future" of society we're seeing, its just a waypoint on the path to complete ridiculousness began by an unhealthy obsession with social rules and kitschy gadgets.
information overload.... (Score:3, Insightful)
Not Just Keeping Up (Score:2, Insightful)
And outside the workplace, it makes a lot of sense to have a cell phone these days. You can usually find a rate plan nearly as good or even better than a land line, so cost isn't a major factor. My parents got rid of their land line entirely - and so would I, if the pizza people would deliver when I use my cell.
Re:Am I the only that hates cell phones? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:What's next? The *real* Net (Score:1, Insightful)
I don't want the things I do to be "cool." I don't want my life to be "hip."
Being cool is shit. It's dumb. I will die a loser, and I will be happy that way.
Re:Not Just Keeping Up (Score:2, Insightful)
My Staff always call me up whenever I'm trying to sleep or am busy and ask the stupidest questions heh
Texting before calling (Score:5, Insightful)
Some communications systems have subject lines. Memos and E-mails do, but phone calls and letters don't. Voicemail usually doesn't, although some online voice chat systems do have introductory messages. Telegrams didn't have subject lines. SMS, arguably, is subject lines only.
Subject lines help enormously in managing information overload. Subject lines for phone calls could be a real win. Especially if you could input them by voice. Hmm.
how old are we? (Score:5, Insightful)
Increasingly, especially for young people, dates are being made online. For friends, there is no reason to plan things out days in advance. Just call each other up at the spur of the moment and see who available to party. Is this good or bad? Not really either.
I have all this technology. People can request my attention using a number of methods. However, I do consider all of these requests. It is my choice to answer phone, reply to email, whatever. This pisses people off. Just because someone asks for my attention, am I for some reason required to drop everything and respond? I think not. Rather than showing our age and railing against rational uses of technology, I think we should accept those uses and teach how to use technology rather than have technology use you.
There was a time when people would come to your house, and, if there was time, you would put out some biscuits and make some tea and have a good sit down. This was obviously inefficient and complicated. However, I am still more inclined to talk to someone who would come to my apartment for a chat rather than randomly pick up phone and call me. OTOH, there are some conversations that are better on the phone and email. For instance, i remeber the first time a girl broke up with a friend of mine over email. It saved a useless conversation.
Set some boundaries! (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm sick of everyone I know having the expectation that they can contact me anytime and anywhere.
This is not the technology's fault; this is YOUR FAULT. Tacitly or explicitly, you allowed this to happen. Set some ground rules with people and clarify expectations on both sides, e.g. "Don't call between 4 and 5 - that's Willy's time!". Blaming the phone itself is ridiculous.
Re:I'm sick of... (Score:3, Insightful)
I take my cell phone with me everywhere. It has become the primary phone to me. Sure I live at home with my parents atm, I'm saving up to buy a house so it's a nice way to save. But I'm never home.
If you're always on the go, then for anyone to get in contact with you, or vice versa then it comes in very hand.
Yes I'm one of the ones who "whip 'em out" even if no call came in because sometimes you can miss and not know it. I check it also because I rarely carry a watch with me. When it costs me $20 to get a band for a watch that costs $20 then I say screw it. My phone IS my watch and no it's not a status thing. I could care less what anyone else thinks about me or what I'm wearing etc, therefore the doing it for status is out the window.
Re:I'm sick of... (Score:5, Insightful)
Socially, cellphones are for lonely extroverts. (Score:5, Insightful)
Seriously, there are a lot of people like this, even in the nerd sector. They struggle to go for a few hours without calling someone, or having a conversation.. whereas lots of us are quite happy to sit hacking Perl or playing with servers until 4am.
So socially, no, I don't think phones are necessary, unless you're an extrovert who suffers from a loneliness complex.
Business-wise, however, cellphones are pretty damn useful. I can give an impression of being available 24/7 wherever I am, and that's worth a lot. A cellphone also allows me to easily call back into my work answerphone and catch up on calls. That's pretty useful stuff.
Re:I'm sick of... (Score:5, Insightful)
This is where the lack of SMS messaging in the U.S. leads to real differences.
In Europe real voice calls are relatively unusual (at least amongst my friends). You send text messages for short interactions and only call when you really need to talk.
The nice thing about text messages (like e-mail) is that they don't require any real-time response from the recipient. In a meeting? Don't feel like talking? Sleeping? No problem - the message will still be there later if you want to respond.
It also means that I don't feel guilty about turning off my ringer. If I don't feel like takin g a call, the caller can always send me a text message. If they don't bother then it probably wasn't important anyway.
Great...More people bugging me with phones... (Score:2, Insightful)
The social rules that are arising from it are very intriguing, though, indicative of how popular phones and messaging are. Increasing use of text messages as a "knock" seems to be something useful evolving out of it. Sometimes I wish people would IM me before calling so I don't get distracted. (Cooperative vs. Preemptive Dfiant-tasking.
Now can we please make the next taboo not having a hands-free headset while driving? I'd like to decrease the odds of me being splattered all over the pavement from the sociable idiot in the SUV near me who either a) drifts into my lane and almost sideswipes me, b) drives slow in the lefthand lane but fails to yield, or c) didn't know where that red light/stop sign/parking lot came from.
For some people it's some sort of unhealthy social addiction. If you can't just run down to the store briefly without yacking away to your friend while you sift through the items on the shelf, it's just a little weird and annoying. Especially if you have friends there standing next to you. But when I'm constantly seeing peoples' lives endangered, that's where I draw the line.
I'm glad it's the Japanese... (Score:2, Insightful)
I live in a college town and most of the college kids take them everywhere. I'm sick of hearing people take calls and talk on them at plays, movies and restaraunts. A student at the college told me that cell phones have destroyed the community atmosphere as the students are only interested in getting out of the class and getting on their cell phones.
I think by and large we'd be better off without them.
They'll all go blind... (Score:1, Insightful)
And then there is the fact that we don't really know the relationship between brain & consciousness. Do we really want to be throwing a spanner in the works in this way?
Mobile phones should be for emergencies only.
Re:Am I the only that hates cell phones? (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't see what's so 'wrong' about it. A cell phone can be a life saver. Here in Oregon there's been an on-going story about a snow-shoer that got lost on Mount Hood. I bet his family wishes he was carrying a cell phone.
In any case, I can understand the social evolutions of carrying cell phones. When you got a group of people who wants to go do stuff, it's a lot easier to mobilize when the prerequisite is that everybody's home.
Is that wrong? I don't see how. It may be bothersome to you if you've got a large group of friends that insist on calling all the time. But that's the neat thing you can do with a cell phone you can't do with a regular phone, put it on silent. Let the voice mail get it. You really can't do that with a landline for fear of blocking calls to other people who use it.
So no, I don't have the instant "oo dat's bad" reaction to it.
Re:Am I the only that hates cell phones? (Score:2, Insightful)
Well, what did you and everyone else before you do before they had cell phones? If you car breaks down you can use someone's phone in their house or a phone in a business to call a wrecker. Most people drive in the city or suburbs so it's not like you are miles away from civilization.
If you get in an accident you can use the same strategy. You can also use someone else's cell phone (maybe even the person you hit) to call whoever.
I've found that a lot of the people that have cell phones also have decent cars that aren't going to break down. Usually when you car 'breaks down' it won't start. Usually when you stop you car it is at a place of business or a friends house. For the times when you car is slowly breaking down you can limp it into town or to someones house. There aren't many times when you are driving in the middle of the night, miles from civilization, when you car breaks down (unless it is a horror movie
If your car does break down in the middle of nowhere the it will usually be at least an hour or two before a wrecker will get there.
I drove to from Michigan to Alaska then down to California and back (12,000 miles) without a cell phone. No one had a cell phone, the car did not break down. We were not worried if it did. BTW, the car was about 5-7 years old, were were considering taking my 89 VW Fox before we got the other car.
Re:Am I the only that hates cell phones? (Score:1, Insightful)
i've got no problem with carring a phone in case of emergency, but phones and cars, for the most part, don't mix.
Those photos really bug me! (Score:2, Insightful)
I'm really concerned about people taking pictures of me without my consent. It's too easy to do with these new cell phones. Especially when someone might catch you in an off moment. I own a cell phone, but rarely use it. I got one for my personal use because every body else has one./p?
It's not "keeping up" - look to the past (Score:5, Insightful)
It's not about keeping up just for keeping up's sake; it's new technologies that are useful and become part of most peoples' lives. To explain, let's go back in history... these things were all new-fangled at one time, but now, even though some people live without them, seem pretty "essential":
- 4 walls and a water-proof roof.
- clean water, delivered to your faucet.
- sanitation system - sewer, garbage, etc.
- health insurance, vacinations for diseases you don't even have yet!
- 911, police, and fire services
- a legal system, property ownership
- currency, bank accounts, lending, credit cards
- a regular job (as opposed to self-empolyed farmer/blacksmith/etc. and directly bartering your skills with others)
- prerecorded music, books.
- transportation (taxi, rail, plane, boat, postal system)
- automation (copy machines, computers)
The vast majority of us integrate these into our lives because we feel they have value that exceeds their costs, and not just to keep up.
Re:Am I the only that hates cell phones? (Score:4, Insightful)
But my work habits have long been nomadic: I always look for positions and projects that give me maximum mobility.
It's *your* fault if you're anyone's bitch! (Score:4, Insightful)
If you can't return calls when it's convenient *to you,* get a better group of friends, or a better job. Or both. Ultimately, if you're anyone else's bitch, you have only yourself to blame.
Re:Am I the only that hates cell phones? (Score:3, Insightful)
Two years ago, when I called the police to report some obstacle on the freeway, the operator asked for my mobile phone number. When I told him that I was calling from home, he said: "Oh, I was _assuming_ you were calling from your mobile phone. In that case, I need your name and address...". And this was not in Japan. It was in a European country and it was two years ago.
Don't we all realize how - with the increasing ability to always get in contact with our friends - the people directly around us get less and less important? They _have_ to get less important, because we can and do now spend more time to communicate with our friends (the people we already know). Consequently, we cannot spend that time with people around us that we do not know yet. For example, if you get bored on subway you call a friend or send him/her messages, while in previous times the only option was to talk to the the stranger on the next seat (thus possibly making a new acquaintance). Not that talking to strangers in a subway was something we did regularly. In that context, isn't it remarkable that the more people are around us (city vs. small village), the less common is it to talk to people you don't know ?
I find it more and more difficult to make new acquaintances because the reasons to talk to people I don't already know are vanishing...You are not expected to do it - next step is: you are expected to not do it.
Of course, all this has consequences: If your friends are spread out throughout the country (and this is only a matter of time), transport will become more important...not _less_ important as some have predicted for the age of connected world. But this a different story...
Re:Am I the only that hates cell phones? (Score:4, Insightful)
I really dislike cell phones (Score:2, Insightful)
The most major annoyance i have is when I'm hanging out with someone, having a good time, and they get a call and an invitation to go somewhere else. Its just overly intrusive and disrespectful
Re:Set some boundaries! (Score:5, Insightful)
I once read anarticle which spoke very poorly of people's manners regarding cellphones. But was he complaining about people who talk on them? No! His complaint was that people had the gall to call him when he was out for dinner. How dare they!
This, quite frankly, sickened me. He bought the cellphone, he gave out his number, he brought it with him, he left it on, and he left the ringer on, yet he blames other people for their audacity to actually call him. Staggeringly stupid.
I have a cellphone, yes. In fact, it's the only phone I have access to. When people call me, they call me at that number. When I call them back, again, that number. I, however, don't blame other people for interrupting me. My friends don't have this stupid sense of urgency in everything they do. They don't feel the need to call me and say 'hey, I rented a movie that we can watch when you get home' or 'I bought this' or 'I went there', because they know that chances are, I don't really care so much that I need to know now. I'll find out when I get home, and that's enough.
Text messaging is a boon, because people can send me messages saying 'I rented Tuxedo' or something without me having to actively participate in a back-and-forth to discover it. I can get the message, read it, and delete it without anyone knowing, and do so at my leisure. No intrusions, but it's available, so I don't go out and rent Operation Condor and get stuck with two Jackie Chan movies on one weekend (if that matters; I like Jackie Chan).
Most phones can be set from ring to vibe; all phones can be set from ring to don't. Many even have a 'manner mode' (on the LG TM520, hold down * for two seconds and the ringer turns off; easy, fast). USE IT. Don't complain when people call you all the time if you always answer all the time. Let it go to voicemail, let them text-message you, let them call back later. It's the recipient of the call that's falling into the trap, not everyone else.
--Dan, who enjoys his solitude whenever he feels
Consider this... (Score:3, Insightful)
I can't understand why everybody (who's posting, at least) has this big hang-up on cell phones. It's like this approach to being 'cool' by hating that which is perceived as 'cool'. Is it okay to be 'geek' and not be a social troglodyte?
It feels like middle school, where everyone was so afraid that they saw uncertainty through 'threat' goggles.
SMS (Score:4, Insightful)
That said, I read SMS messages on a regular basis. Why? Because those I can ignore, read, reply as I choose. While not great for long conversations, something like a short message and a reply is easier over SMS than over the phone.
"I'll be about 15 mins late today" "Ok, I'll be in the computer lab" is typically what I want to do with a mobile phone. Not talking for hours, if I wanted to do that I'd normally be at home with a normal phone anyway. So while cell calls are overrated, cell phones are not.
Kjella
Re:Am I the only that hates cell phones? (Score:3, Insightful)
*I* am the one who decides when and where I want to be reachable.
you can only do that if you have a cell phone! with one, you can turn it on or off, screen calls via caller id, voice mail, etc. without a cell phone, how do you decide to be reachable when you're not home?
A lack of civility (Score:1, Insightful)
I own a cellphone but I turn it off/vibe mode when I'm at a theatre or any place where it's ringing could be disruptive. I do not stop talking to someone merely because my phone is ringing unless the call is of considerable importance or business. Many people do this but a large minority does not and therefore paints the technology as disruptive and not the person.
Frankly, people who don't wash every day bother me more than a ringing phone, and I hate the sound of ringing phones.
Re:Am I the only that hates cell phones? (Score:3, Insightful)
So for those few Americans who are driving from their jobs at a Newark crack den on their way home to their Buffalo retirement communities in the dead of winter, then yes, I'd absolutely recommend they carry a cell phone at all times.
For everyone else, having a phone seems rather optional, and perhaps even a liability. I'd wager that far more people have been killed by bringing their car phones than by leaving them home.
Re:Am I the only that hates cell phones? (Score:2, Insightful)
congrats, TROLL! ;) (Score:3, Insightful)
Your rhetoric is full of spark but void of content. You speak in sweeping generalizations
I think people are slowly becoming more and more anti-social. Have you any evidence? Or is this "just a hunch?"
bombarded with all sorts of relevant and irrelevant "information" that clogs our minds, uhm, proof?! I happen to be of the opinion that the evolutionary function of human consciousness is to weed through vast amounts of stimuli (primarily visual) to acertain what is important.
technology is ruining the human social structure... oh please! Yes, society is crumbling because the youth of Japan are texting!
Yeah, technological discoveries like MEDICINE and NUTRITION have been the death of human social structure! Now we have all these damn old people! What are we going to do about the problem of roving gangs of the Aged?! And now that asthma sufferers have access to portable inhalers and diabetics have portable blood testing machines, these previously house-bound gimps are now running free! Its anarchy!
There is one thing that should keep all of your fears at bay. And its hard-wired into humans. Its the desire, no, strike that, NEED, to get LAID. Texting is all well and good, but no one can improve upon the old style information/fluid exchange of sex.
Society's fine. The kids are all right. The parent post should be mod'd as FUNNY.
Re:"have to have"? (Score:4, Insightful)
Japan has an incredible sense of groupism. Whereas in the West there is a tendency to focus on individuality as a prime virtue, in Japan (I don't know much about other places in the East), the sense of self is very much displaced by the sense of group.
Because of this, the idea that the increased connectivity with society that a cellphone brings is crucial now in Japan is not at all suprising, and the idea that Americans tend to resist having to carry one follows equally well from that dichotomy of social personalities.
~SL
<disclaimer>I am not now, nor have I ever been, Japanese, and I'm not any kind of expert on Japanese society. The above is based on what I've learned from reading about Japan and studying the language the last few years.</disclaimer>
Re:Set some boundaries! (Score:5, Insightful)
Believe me, I can and do shut off the damn phone. But then I hear about it from my relatives and co-workers. "Hey, where were you? I tried to get ahold of you." putting the blame back on me. My wife/relatives simply expect to be able to contact me "just in case". It's becoming cultural and that's very hard to undo.
-S
Re:Am I the only that hates cell phones? (Score:2, Insightful)
I can give my family more of my time because I can conduct business as it happens instead of 8 hours a day and cut off. A quick incoming call, break out the palm, set an appointment, get back to the family.
I wouldn't be without it now. Heck I don't even shut it off at night for fear of missing a morning call (I'm good at picking up and sounding like I've been awake for hours).
As for the "my time" issue, thats waht caller ID is for
Keeping up with the Joneses (Score:4, Insightful)
I think the most positive aspect of cell phones are that you can keep up with the Joneses, but not in the way you think.
When landline-based telephones started to become widespread, they allowed people to communicate over long distances. You could keep up with Mom, Dad, Grandma, and your friends in another state. But only if they were home. Answering machines partially solved this problem, because you could leave messages, but it isn't the same. Cheap, affordable cell phones have allowed the world to keep in touch much more easily than ever before.
I'll use myself as an example. I live in the Western USA, while most of my family and some of my friends live in the Eastern USA. Most of us work weird schedules; some work 12-hour hospital shifts, some work 3rd shift, others normal shifts. There's no real way to keep track of when someone's available and when they're not. Calling a person's house doesn't mean much; is the person at work, or are they just not home? Call their cell phone. If they can talk, they'll answer their phone and talk. If they can't talk, you can leave a message and know they'll get your message as soon as possible, not when they get home (whenever that is). None of us would ever be able to actually talk to each other without cell phones; we're hardly ever home at the same time.
A lot of people don't like cell phones; they don't like the potential of being bothered every minute by others. That's fine (though if you need privacy for awhile, you can just turn your phone off). But many people enjoy the being able to keep in touch with friends and family much easier. Being able to immediately reach the actual person you want to talk to anywhere on the planet at any time has caused the world to be just a bit smaller. This positive benefit outweighs most of the negatives, IMHO.