Bell and McLelland
Genevieve Bell’s “The Age of Thumb: A Cultural Reading of Mobile Technologies from Asia” discusses the positive impact that China has had on the cellular technology. China is the largest market for cell phones, which is why one third of the world’s mobile phone users are from China. Cell phones are and will continue to be a major item in all of the homes, which is why many know and believe that mobile phones are replacing the landline phone system. When reading Bell’s article, she states that there are more cell phones than citizens in some places, like Singapore. This proves that individuals have a cell phone for a variety of reasons and it is not limited to one way communication like a landline phone. Throughout the semester we have read about the many functions that mobile technology offers the user and Bell goes on to also include the use of “solving local problems” and incorporating “cultural practice” in to one’s everyday communication. The use of mobile technology has changed the way that individuals communicate, engage in relationships, and view the world that surrounds them. Bell explains the meaning of mobile through a “cultural lens perspective” because she believes that mobile phones aren’t technological advances rather cultural. This is because they are “objects for communication, as manifestations of information, as a form of identity, and as sites of anxiety and control.” As we have already learned, mobile phones are not just a piece of technology that individuals want and need rather they are “mobile objects, crossing boundaries within and beyond the home with comparative ease. They are completely open to commodification and profound personalization, and they maintain relative ease-of-use.” Essentially, cell phones are a communication tool because the majority of individuals in Asia own and communicate by the use of their cell phones. Cell phones are an information tool because the use of SMS allows people to send and receive real time information. Cell phones express an individual’s identity by both internal themes and external decorations. While cell phones are also a way to communicate with others during an emergency when anxiety is high and someone needs to make sure that a friend or a loved one is okay. Cell phones have become an “extension of ourselves and personalities” yet our culture and society must adapt to the technology that is forever growing and becoming more and more important to people’s everyday lives.
“The Socio-cultural aspects of mobile communication technologies in Asia and the Pacific” by McLelland is an article that focuses on understanding the patterns and trends of cell phones that have taken place in a variety of areas. He stresses the importance of trends being local experiences because no one can compare different regions to each other since each area is unique. There are four trends that McLelland explains by stating that there is a connection between mobile technology and the youth, there has been a transformation in language through the use of SMS, mobile technology has impacted politics and the changes in space and time. McLelland agrees with Bell that mobile phones are cultural by stating that “the telephone was regarded by people in society as a proletarian device, to be used by servants to telephone orders to florists and department stores.” This example emphasizes the use of the mobile phone within particular societies and areas vary accordingly. McLelland also mentions how mobile phones are “transport mechanisms” because they have condensed time and space by shortening the amount of time it takes for a message to be sent across space to another place. The boundaries of communication are not limited like they were in the past because individuals can communicate in a variety of ways and it does not matter the location of the sender nor the receiver. Mobile technology has transformed the space in each culture, yet each culture is unique according to their locality.
Both of these articles relate to the topics that we have studied throughout the semester yet it adds the element of Asia. The history of mobile technology, the influence that youth culture has on mobile technology while mobile technology also affects the youth culture, and how an individual’s identity can be expressed through their cellular device. It was great to read articles that could incorporate all of these topics while also giving us more knowledge about each topic by integrating the studies that each author had conducted. Both Bell and McLelland believe that mobile technology and communication are influence by the cultural yet I have to agree more with Bell. This is because Bell makes a strong argument about how cell phones are a cultural tool because they are flexible and fit differently in each culture. I know that China and other countries use mobile technology differently than I do because I only use my mobile phone to communicate via text message or voice. While I also know from studying cellular generations that the speed of my phone is not “up to date” compared to the speed of someone who lives in China because China is more advanced when compared to our culture.