[Air-l] suggestions?

[Alex Halavais]

Charles,

No research, but an anecdote. I was talking last week with my grad
class--mostly media professionals--about their mobile devices and the
recent claims of addiction in the media. Every one professed that they
were not so much addicted as that the social and career penalties of
being unreachable were extremely high. One said that his wife was in
Intensive Care, and he was forced to turn off his telephone, and as
worried as he was about her, he felt relieved to have an acceptable
excuse for having the phone off. (We sometimes have someone leave the
seminar, summoned by mobile calls to urgent business.)

We decided that we would start a small business: a fake ICU (an
Impromptu Communication Unconnection). You would turn in your phone to
a receptionist who would tell whoever called that you were in the ICU
and unreachable, and that your Great Aunt Sally had fallen off the
roof, or something more plausible. To a person, the class said that
they would subscribe to such a service.  No one wanted to give up
their phones or crackberries completely, and all said that there were
times they were really helpful, but it was not because of unbridled
technolust, but social pressure.

Of course, that's just what an addict would say. Blasted totalizing
explanations.

Alex


On 10/2/06, Charles Ess <cmess at drury.edu> wrote:
> Hi AoIRists,
>
> I've been asked by a local TV station to comment on a story they're doing
> titled "Techno Detox".  They have one volunteer (so far) to engage in the
> following:
>
> > We are looking for individuals who are "addicted" to technology (iPod, cell
> > phone, texting, email, facebook/myspace, etc)
> > We would like to have those individuals tell us why they love their gadgets
> > and then have them go cold turkey for a few days.  We'll check in to see how
> > they're doing and then wrap up at the end of the week as they are allowed to
> > once again use those coveted items.
> > Now, failure can also be part of the story.  We just want people who are
> > willing to give it an honest effort, and candidly tell us about their
> > experience.
>
> 1.  I know that someone(s) at AoIR in Brisbane mentioned a similar sort of
> process, but done (if memory serves - always a shaky assumption) as an
> academic study.  If anyone on the list who was also at AoIR in Brisbane can
> remember this conversation - can you please contact me offlist with the
> details of the study?
>
> 2.  I have a number of qualms about participating in the story as a local
> "expert" - but hope that by doing so I might be able to defuse some of the
> prevailing dichotomies that seem to shape reporting on media (beginning, in
> this instance, by using the disease model of addiction as the primary
> frame).  Stated another way, I'm hoping to provide more informed and nuanced
> commentary that would help both the reporter and the audience move away from
> these sorts of notions of technology (good or bad? cure or disease? blessing
> or curse, etc.) - notions that fuel the sorts of "moral panic" reporting on
> new media (currently, e.g., connections between violent video games and
> recent episodes of violence in schools, etc.)
>
> So ... does anyone have good research relevant to these concerns and the
> phenomena in question that you would recommend as useful background reading
> as I prepare for the interview?
>
> Many thanks in advance -
> charles
>
>
> Distinguished Research Professor,
> Interdisciplinary Studies <http://www.drury.edu/gp21>
> Drury University
> 900 N. Benton Ave.              Voice: 417-873-7230
> Springfield, MO  65802  USA       FAX: 417-873-7435
> Home page:  http://www.drury.edu/ess/ess.html
>
> Information Ethics Fellow, 2006-07, Center for Information Policy Research,
> School of Information Studies, UW-Milwaukee
> Co-chair, CATaC conferences <www.catacconference.org>
> Vice-President, Association of Internet Researchers <www.aoir.org>
> Professor II, Globalization and Applied Ethics Programmes
> <http://www.anvendtetikk.ntnu.no/pres/bridgingcultures.php>
>
> Exemplary persons seek harmony, not sameness. -- Analects 13.23
>
>
>
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