Cell Phone Usage And Its Effect On The Planned Environment

Cell Phone Usage and its Effect on the Planned Environment

The advent and inception of mass produced, inexpensive methods of mobile communication has not been as widely proclaimed nor as closely studied as the rapid growth of the world wide web but. The cellular phone, only the first version of an oncoming invasion of portable digital communication tools, is destined, like the development ofthe internet, will lead to inherent transformations in individuals, their perception of their self and their access to their world as well as the way users of these devices collectively construct the world of the future. It is because of this convenient, mobile and instant access to information, communication and social opportunities that mobile devices will have a profound effect on the plannedenvironment as urban city dwellers learn to live life with this tool always at their side.
The idea of Public and private space in the era of the mobile device.
On a social level the impact of cell phones usage in public places indicates that the simple presence of cell phones in the public realm conflicts the meaning of the public and private spheres as well as hinders social interaction withothers that are using the same public space, this being a stranger or a known person. The idea of privacy, in my mind, refers to sort of a buffer zone that surrounds me where ever I go, that separates me from other users of the same space. This, sort of shield around me, allows me to regulate my interactions with others that are also users of public urban spaces. I have noticed that the use ofmobile devices has now become somewhat of a signal that someone may want to be left alone in their private space while at the same time communicating the idea that they are not alone and a feeling of being out and about and using a public space. Does the use of personal mobile devices, in instances like this, then confuse the social boundaries of public space? What does this do to the ideas thatnew urbanists propose in theories of activating the streets with the introduction of interesting public spaces where users can interact with the street? Jacobs wrote that “word does not move around where public characters and sidewalk life are lacking.” (Mennel 207) Well, Now it does. People are now occupying multiple spaces at one time. They can physically be standing on a public street cornerwhile also attending an online public forum while at the same time requiring of others that are surrounding them an unsaid private space in which to focus on occupying these spaces. These are incontrovertibly real world neighborhoods, but their community is as virtual as it is physical. With each year, we as humans get better at navigating between the two real worlds. (Blum 2012) It’s easy to think ofmobile interaction in terms of being a private public space in your own city, and easy to think of a private public space in your own city in terms of mobile interaction. Both are at their best when they can successfully balance the public and the private.
What about the idea that interaction through cellular devices and mobile internet capability has killed our sense of place? The experience ofa public place lies in the fact that every public place has a unique character. It is the all encompassing and inescapable character of the public space that engages all the senses that makes it special. Now with the emergence of mobile technology and the ability to occupy two spaces at once in somewhat of a parallel or hybrid space, it is all too easy to not be engaged fully with the specificlocal character of the place you are in. The cell phone and mobile internet has changed our sense of place because of its ability to intrude into every moment in every possible place. When a person walks along the street and talks on a cell phone, they are not on the street sharing the communal experience of urban life. They are in some other place–someplace at the other end of your phone...