What about the beeeees?

[sabotabby]

I don't even have a regular cell phone, so why would I want an iPhone? I bet you don't need one either.

Comments

[sabotabby]

I think technology can drive progress, but it also reflects where we're at, culturally speaking. The NSA thing is the most obvious example of how cell phones can curtail freedom, but there are more subtle problems, too. We become atomized (people in transit talk to a disembodied voice rather than the physical bodies around them) and for many people, cells expand the workplace into one's daily life (your boss can now reach you anywhere).

They can provide information, but at the moment, only in a limited way—a way that's even more limiting than the shift from print-based media to TV and teh interwebs. Small screen = more concise and more immediate, but not necessarily more accurate.

That's not saying that they're inherently bad or even undesirable (even though I'm, personally, consistently annoyed by them). But they won't contribute to positive political changes unless a shift in that direction is already happening.