Thoughts @

‘cell’ withdrawal

Some time ago, I left my mobile charging at my parent’s home in Seattle. I remembered this as I arrived at the Oakland airport outside of San Francisco because I needed to call AAA for a jump. While in the parking lot, I realized I had left my car lights on, and as such the radio ‘locked’ and I had no music. So, I jumped the car and eventually was on the road – sans mobile, sans music. I did this for one week, until my mobile phone appeared in the mail and I also found the code to unlock my radio. During this week, it was quite stunning to see how reliant, even addicted I have become to my devices. One wonders what might happen if the power goes out for any significant time. The Ipod has become a lifeline to entertainment while on the road, at the gym or during long flights. Our mobile devices do more than connect us to our friends and family through voice calls, it offers constant companionship and entertainment through SMS/IM integration, music and games. Now, as mobile television and high-speed internet access become the norm, our devices will continue to offer welcome distractions to any ‘in-between’ moments we might have during the day.

This feeling of true mobile withdrawal is expressed vividly in this post of a man code-named ‘Andy Dufrense’ (from Shawshank Redemption) currently serving time in prison. Convicted and sentenced only a month ago, he is dealing with his solitude and new surroundings as best as he can. In a recent post, he writes:

I can see the TV from my cell. It hangs in the main room. I press one eye against the small plastic window and watch what’s on. I usually catch the news at 10:00 and look for pictures I recognize. Today was a treat for MTV was on and, even though I couldn’t hear any sound, the videos made my memory remember what the music sounds like. I made an I-pod and cell phone out of cardboard to carry around. I play with the cardboard iPod as if it was real and pretend to listen to music. Today I listened to “When I get where I’m going” over and over again in my head and sang along. I keep waiting for my phone to ring, so if you get a chance please call.

Imagine not having your mobile or mp3 player for a day. Now imagine not having your devices for a week. Or several months to a year. Then add the impact of having no email or internet access. How would this make you feel, and what is the impact it might have on your personal and professional life? We live in a world that is ‘always on’ where we can access information or communicate every minute of the day. How does this connectivity affect our lives, and is it for the better?

One of our production designers moved to the U.S. from Japan several years ago. She does not carry a mobile phone. When asked why she has decided not to get a mobile device, she says “In Japan, my friends would always expect me to answer or to get back to them right away. When I did not, they would get mad. Having a phone was a convenience to them, and not to me. I felt like a slave to the device, so I got rid of it.” Coming from this ultra-connected society, she suffered ‘mobile burn-out’ and does not wish to be obligated to everyone contacting her. Recently, in a study called ‘mobile lives’ we looked at different cultures and the impact mobile devices have had on their lifestyles. In Singapore the norm is to be ‘always on’ and connected 24/7. This impacts their society in many ways, blurring the line between work and play, between private and public lives. There have been many articles written about this topic, however I think the verdict is still out. In an article written a few years ago about Microsoft, some relevant insights occurred after originally issuing smartphones into the work environment. Eventually, instruction on how to set appropriate boundries became necessary. In this 2004 article, Steve Harvey, Director of People and Culture at Microsoft told CNN:

“Individuals are not skilled in setting the boundaries between work and home (and) colleagues fail to respect other’s rights to free time.” Although work productivity went up, there were calls from staff for “clarity of expectations” and an “agreed etiquette” from management as to when work ended and when home life began. “There is a problem with (work) encroaching on home life, if the individual does not manage it and set the boundaries,” said Harvey. “You may never get quiet time for reflection away from emails and the phone, if you do not take positive steps to be in control of both your time and the technology.”

Obviously, a lot has changed since 2004, however this article and the issues outlined between home and work life remain relevant. The only time my phone is off is generally while on an airplane. While inconvenienced by having to turn off my mobile phone while in-flight, I secretly enjoy my moments of disconnected bliss. A current initiative to allow in-flight mobile usage seems to be a convenience, however if these so called ‘road warriors’ are anything like myself, we need the down time and excuse to actually read a book, or flip through an industry publication. Personally, I’m hoping the initiative does not go through as we all need moments to ‘turn off’. Even if it does inconvenience others.

NOTE: In an effort to ‘be prepared’ I have found a wind-up radio (the ETON FR300) that also charges your mobile device during a power outage or while stranded on the road.

Posted on July 9th, 2006 in Thoughts
Tagged as , , ,
Written by Kelly Goto

11 Responses to “‘cell’ withdrawal”

Comments

  1. tamberg says:
    July 9th, 2006

    There was a time nobody had a mobile phone or an iPod. Living without those things is still perfectly feasible. Even if public phones and vinyl records get rare, evolution did not prove yet who’s on the surviving branch of the tree.

  2. Dan Guy says:
    July 9th, 2006

    You always mention how everyone loves their TiVo. This is the third time I’ve heard you say that without asking if there are any disssenting opinions in the audience. Like your frequent “inability to reboot a Prius” anecdote, which thankfully you haven’t pulled out yet, I’m getting too annoyed to not say something.

    I received a free TiVo for buying $30 worth of Dockers slacks and I do not love my TiVo. It is too unconfigurable, requires hacks to enable much of the functionality that I desire, and is too slowly developed (waiting for the series 3).

    I use free software, GB-PVR, on a computer with six tuner cards (two of them HD) with a terrabyte RAID array. I record HD content, have certain shows automatically transcoded and synchronized to my mobile media device (a Creative Zen Vision — bigger screen and more capacity for less than an iPod), have commercials detected and stripped out automatically before transcoding to XviD, and stream it all to every TV in the house with $40 MediaMVP devices which I control with standard programmable remotes.

    I can reskin the interface any way that I wish, write my own modules, archive everything as I wish, et cetera. This is all also possible with a host of other free software (Meedio, MythTV, freeVo) and inexpensive software (beyondTV, SageTV) for many platforms. The less technical can purchase hardware+software pre-configured packages that are as easy as Microsoft MediaCenter, if not easier.

    So no, I don’t like my TiVo. It’s not *my* TiVo, it’s TiVo’s — they control what I can and can’t do with it. I prefer *my* DVR.

  3. NotaLuddite says:
    July 9th, 2006

    I go often for weeks at a time without my cellphone, and I only give the number to a select few at work who I know will only call me if it is vitally important. I also don’t have an ipod, and still find that my radio & cd player in the car keep me plenty entertained. It’s amazing to me that my somewhat ordinary life can be so hard to imagine! Though please don’t take my TiVO away…

  4. Kelly Goto says:
    July 9th, 2006

    Wow. Interesting comments! I nearly published an article about how much I hate the DVR unit I had along with screen shots to show the defects. I accidentally purchased a DVR along with a satellite hi-def package with functionality much like an old-fashioned VCR. So you could program and record one show at a time if you knew the channel and the time it was on. It had none of the friendly functionality that I had witnessed in TIVO systems. I’m not sure what kind of TIVO a $30 pair of pants buys you, but I had to pay a few hundred for the device I ended up getting - you might not have had a full-fledged version. Mine is a modified hi-def TIVO from http://www.weaknees.com with nearly 200 hours of hi-def recording time. The interface and ‘season pass’ recording capabilities (for the less technical bunch like myself) makes it worthwhile. However, like an iPod, when it does fill up with recordings, going through the list and deleting along with finding certain shows does become labor intensive.

    If you have the creative technical prowess (as it sounds like you have) to configure and modify your own array system to your heart’s content - that is fantastic. It’s not common and is difficult to weigh your opinion against other TIVO fans when you are able to create your own customized experience. I wish you could help me set up my Slingbox and switcher system (I could only find an XBOX switcher for my projector and DVR/DVD system which is so inelegant and doesn’t really work so well…)

    It sounds like you are a frequent attendee if you can appreciate the fact I censored my Prius story. It has run long, however from a personal perspective I have yet to find another example of an interface so affecting the user experience! Sorry my stories and sessions seem to have annoyed you so much, I definitely don’t set out to offend. However I do appreciate you commenting from your perspective. Your comments outline my point exactly - just because I love my TIVO so much (and many who own it say the same thing) I assume others do as well. That’s why the research and observation is so important ;-)

    And in response to the other posts, I am aware that everyone is not addicted to their personal devices. However there are many facts pointing to addictive behavior, especially when looking at a phenomena such as MySpace and the integration of SMS and chat into our daily lives. The withdrawal from these forms of stimulation is real, it’s not as apparent (yet) in our American society. We are a ‘growth market’ with about a 67% penetration rate of mobile phones into our market - where ‘closed markets’ such as Japan and South Korea have nearly a 98% penetration rate - and the behavior is quite different than in the U.S.

  5. Dan Guy says:
    July 9th, 2006

    It was a standard series 2 TiVo. The most useful part was the AV cables. ^_^

    My setup does everything a Slingbox will do as well, btw. I built it before TiVo To Go or Slingbox came out, so the off-the-shelf industry is catching up! As prices go down and all of the whiz-bang features that I’ve built into mine get commoditized I just may switch to some COTS assembly one day, assuming DRM doesn’t infect the world and ruin TiVo, Slingbox, and others in that space.

    If I hadn’t ever heard you speak before I don’t think I would have felt moved to comment. Your talk yesterday was far more bearable than WDW Boston 2003, and even WDW Boston 2005. Maybe it’s an East Coast - West Coast thing — I’ll have to try to see you only in the West from now on. ^_^

  6. Ms. Jen says:
    July 9th, 2006

    A year and a half ago, a business associate somehow wrangled my cell number out of a friend and then distributed the number to a wide variety of other clients and associates. I became frustrated fast as these folks ceased calling me at the office but instead would call my cell day and night. So, I called up Cingular changed my number and requested that my voice mail be taken off my account. The phone rep was flabbergasted. It took about 25 mins of explanations and going up the supervisory chain a few times before my voice mail was disabled.

    Now my lovely camera phone is delightful. When it rings, I can answer it if I so choose. Otherwise people who have my number and know that I am not available 24/7 can email or text me and I can get back to them when I can. On my business card, I have my new number printed on it with a caveat that says “no vm”.

  7. Mark says:
    July 9th, 2006

    It’s scary, isn’t it. I think some of us are naturally less-inclined to be super-connected just as some of us are more likely to be introverts. My wife calls me “super-connected” when I add another POP account to my T-Mobile Sidekick II or get my Google, Backpack and iCal calendars all talking to each other. I have multiple email clients (Outlook + Gmail in a browser) open all day as well as LinkedIn half the time, and multiple chat windows…I am connected, when I am.

    When I’m not, I’m not. I rarely talk on my cell phone, I prefer to use email or IM/SMS. When I head out to go shopping or just out and about, my cell phone rarely accompanies me. If it does, you’re more likely to get voicemail than me. I recently switched to driving north from Boston instead of commuting by train into the city; I no longer rely on an iPod to distract me from all those around me, but sit comfortably in solitude listening to NPR. On top of all that, I have a very hard time committing to following TV shows that I really enjoy, or even watching Netflix that I pay for and receive.

    Somewhere, somehow, balance should be found and maintained. The devices and the grid won’t do it for you.

  8. Kelly Goto says:
    July 9th, 2006

    It’s interesting how the concept of ‘24/7’ availability is prevalent in countries such as Singapore as part of the culture. The pressure to be available blurs the work/life worlds to the extent it is considered rude not to have your phone with you at all times. In the U.S. the merging of IM (instant message) with SMS allows communication between desktop and remote device, so the expectation to always be able to reach friends and colleagues whether at work or while remote is high. As I mentioned in this post, one colleague at our office who was from Japan does not have a cell phone and will not get another one even though she has moved to the States because she felt like such a slave to the device and to the expectations it created.

  9. jbennett says:
    July 9th, 2006

    I use a T-mobile MDA. Best cell/mobile device I’ve used yet (even though it runs windows, and the interface is clunky). I like the connectivity it offers, but I also like the fact that T-mobile doesn’t have the greatest coverage (poor coverage is a feature, not a bug!). If I am on vacation, my phone has wifi to check things that I want to check (don’t need to lug the laptop), but lacking coverage, my vacation becomes a ‘cell free’ zone. Dan Guy — kudos on your DVR setup, you have set the bar very high. I just got a Miglia TVMax and EyeTV 2 software… it works out to be a pretty cool combo for the less technically inclined. El Gato spent some time on their software, and it works well (just needs bigger fonts for living room use).

  10. mobilephoneextreme says:
    July 9th, 2006

    Personally, technology is sometimes a curse and a blessing for our lives. It just depend how we use it.

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