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Cell Phones Changing Social Group Communication

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?"

5 of 334 comments (clear)

  1. Here we go. by SlashdotLemming · · Score: 0, Troll

    All the "I'm too good to own a television" people now get a chance post "I'm too good to own a cellphone"

    Brace yourselves.
    (Did I mention that I don't own a cellphone?)

  2. correction by iamthetrollofdeath · · Score: 0, Troll

    I am a jerk and will know correct you.

    You "needed" a car as early as the 20's. After all, they wre roaring ^^.

    It's just that the cars back then suxored

    --
    I am the troll. So go ahead and hate me.
  3. France - Some Famous Quotes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    "France has neither winter nor summer nor morals. Apart from these drawbacks it is a fine country. France has usually been governed by prostitutes." --Mark Twain

    "I would rather have a German division in front of me than a French one behind me." --General George S. Patton

    "Going to war without France is like going deer hunting without your accordion." --Norman Schwartzkopf

    "We can stand here like the French, or we can do something about it." --Marge Simpson

    "As far as I'm concerned, war always means failure." --Jacques Chirac, President of France

    "As far as France is concerned, you're right." --Rush Limbaugh

    "The only time France wants us to go to war is when the German Army is sitting in Paris sipping coffee." --Regis Philbin

    "The French are a smallish, monkey-looking bunch not dressed any better, on average, than the citizens of Baltimore. True, you can sit outside in Paris and drink little cups of coffee, but why this more stylish than sitting inside and drinking large glasses of whiskey I don't know." --P. J. O'Rourke

    "You know, the French remind me a little bit of an aging actress of the 1940s who was still trying to dine out on her looks but doesn't have the face for it." --John McCain

    "You know why the French don't want to bomb Saddam Hussein? Because he hates America, he loves mistresses and wears a beret. He is French, people." --Conan O'Brien

    "I don't know why people are surprised that France won't help us get Saddam out of Iraq. After all, France wouldn't help us get the Germans out of France!" --Jay Leno

    "The last time the French asked for 'more proof' it came marching into Paris under a German flag." --David Letterman

  4. Re:Am I the only that hates cell phones? by NDPTAL85 · · Score: 0, Troll

    So basically you're autistic?

    No wonder you don't like OS X's GUI

    --
    Mac OS X and Windows XP working side by side to fight back the night.
  5. only... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

    only fags and whiney women like martha stewart come up with this social taboo horseshit. fuck you all ill do what i want. i will not check my email more than once a week, ill let my phone battery die when i feel like it. fuck aim its for whiny consumer oriented teenie boppers. if wanna get a hold of me, to fucking bad. you wannacommunicate with me, write me a letter. does any one actually do that anymore? hey fuck rags, do you actually know how to write?