I often find myself wondering as I flick through the many options on my mobile phone what will happen next. When my phone breaks down, what new features will I instantly have at my finger tips? In the past 10 years my mobile phone has become and gateway to social activity and completely necessary part of my life through its ability to connect me not only with those in my phonebook, but in recent years a broader social network.
Fortunately I am not completely reliant on my phone for social interaction with my peers. But the continual advancement of technologies enables one to engage in social behaviour, beyond the physical and with aid of the digital in a new virtual environment. Newer technical forms cross boundaries of public consumption and media use to a more private interaction.
Clara Volka’s (2007) article looks at two examples, the Semapedia and the Socialight as two examples of physical places that occupy a virtual environment simultaneously. This enables the consumer to move in and out of virtual and physical space and connect to information and networks on a grater capacity. With such advancements, mobile media allows it consumers to move away from more standard and tradition forms of media that could arguably be seen as isolating and move into a contemporary virtual community more easily assessable, with a higher frequency in regards to the speed and how easily the information is available to the consumer.
Are the more traditional forms of media under threat? Perhaps, although a balance of user consumption between these newer forms and older media usage (which remains indisputable in regards to its importance), would greatly enhance social behaviour and efficiency.
Volker, Clara. “Mobile Media and Space.” In Goggin, Gerard and Larissa Hjorth, Eds. Moblie Media 2007.Sydney: Sydney University Press, 2007, 135-142.
