Thursday, September 25, 2008
The Role of Cell Phones In Shaping the New Society
With the convergence of entertainment and telecommunications the cell phone has transformed from an expensive item used by businessman and elites, to a personal communication tool for consumers. This has provided the average consumer of wireless technology the ability to use not only the function of a telephone but other accessories such as text messaging, email, internet access as well as camera and video technology. Wireless companies compete for their customers by introducing more technologically advanced mobile phones, like the iPhone, and use contracts that legitimize customers to their cellular networks. The competition for cellular customers is a billion dollar industry that especially in Canada, consists of one or two monopolies that control all of the telecommunications industry. This creates a high amount of competition between distributers, fighting for their consumers by offering newer phones, with more applications, at a reasonable price. Therefore, as the technological advancements become greater, individual’s can access unlimited amounts of information and communication at a fairly low price. The endless amounts of information that cell phone technology provides us today has created a different type of society than ever before. Castells refers to this new society as a “network society” because the role of information technology, like the cell phone, has changed the way in which people access information and entertainment in everyday life. The cell phone allows for the shaping of this new society because it produces an innovative way for people to produce information. The ability for people to access information on a cell phone at any occasion, has allowed for the redefinition of time and space. Castells summarizes this idea in one of his 9 hypothesis of the information society. The “network society” that I believe is present today, has created a new world for consumers, and has redefined cell phones as agents in the production of information and entertainment, rather than solely as communicative tools for human interaction.
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2 comments:
Paige, your comments on the telecommunications industry and digital convergence within a networked society mirror the questions of sustainability and ownership I have researched in my topic of Digital Rights Management.
As wireless companies legitimize their dominance over consumers' wallets, the significance of sustainability remains largely unanswered in today's society. Consumers, left to their own devices, employ activity from below - a theory that refers to individuals becoming empowered through the development of new technologies and their impact on society as a whole. Taking cell phones as an example, companies are constantly putting an emphasis on individual empowerment through the functionality of their exclusive mobile phones to win over consumers so they become subscribers to their centralized networks. Just as Digital Rights Management is used to limit consumers from imposing complete control over their digital devices, cell phone companies limit access control through exclusive contracts with hardware manufacturers to buy out the latest celluar phones and exploit consumers by charging extra to utilize these hardware and software features that you can only find from a particular celluar phone network.
It becomes quickly apparent that these new technologies are not enabling consumers through expansive accessibility and usability. Instead, celluar phone companies are creating barriers to information access through the privatization of digital technologies and information networks. The myth of decentralization being perpetuated by celluar phone companies in today's society is only a ploy to convince consumers into believing that they have ownership and control in networked societies.
This ongoing myth of individual empowerment under a centralized system, however, is what makes sustainability in networked societies completely possible. Just as companies need subscribers to pay for the maintenance and expansion of their global networks, consumers need digital carriers for ease of information access and instantaneous communication. As Castell's hypothesis put it best, celluar phone companies empower consumers through the redefinition of time and space. They simply don't do it for free.
What remains is the question of ownership in today's information economy: is the cell phone you own your personal communications device or is it the property of a digital carrier that unlocks access to their information network? Michel Foucault talked about power relations being embedded in all kinds of information mechanisms and celluar phones are no different. Just as consumers regulate themselves to the choices of their digital carriers and levels of information access, digital carriers simply present their services to establish dominance over networked societies. The relationship between consumer and carrier is no different from Castell's hypothesis regarding the redefinition of time and space; power comes from the center to societies requiring certain things, therefore, the lines of communication need to be extended to meet their needs.
To address your question of whether or not the cell phone is an owned personal communications device or the property of a digital carrier, I would have to agree with Michel Foucault’s idea of information technology and power. Cellular phone companies rely on their exclusive digital technologies in order to have power over their consumers and control the usage and accessibility to their information networks. For example, if a person wants to buy a TELUS cellular phone from Future Shop they cannot go to a Roger’s Wireless store and expect them to activate the TELUS phone under a Roger’s network. If this was the case, people could buy which ever phone they wanted at the best price possible and activate it on any network, limiting the mobile company’s power and control over their information networks. Digital Rights Management is what prevents people from having complete rights over their cellular phones and networks. Therefore, the power and control lays in the hands of the cellular phone companies because they’re the ones with the exclusive mobile phones that run on their centralized networks. The mobile companies try and prevent people from having complete control over their cellular phones by convincing them to sign contracts so that they are tied down to their network. Even though a mobile phone could cost the content manufacturer $15 to produce, if you want to purchase it without a contract the mobile company is going to charge you $500 to purchase that phone. This is the mobile companies strategy to sustain control over their consumers because if someone wants a $500 phone but doesn’t want to pay that much they will sign a three year contract and get that phone for $50, but they are now under legitimate contract with that particular mobile company. Depending on whether a person wants to pay $500 for a cellular phone or $50 and sign a contract, is going to determine if that person owns their cell phone or not. The more contracts that people sign legitimizing them to certain cellular networks only increases the power and control that mobile companies have over their consumers. Therefore, I see the cell phone as a device that allows people to access endless amounts of information, entertainment and communication, but is owned and used by mobile companies to confine people to their networks for long periods of time. Preventing mobile phone consumers from owning the complete rights to their cellular phones and using them on which ever network they find most appealing.
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