What would life be like without my blackberry? This is a question I have seriously pondered before. When thinking about this I try to think about the role that my blackberry plays in my life. McLuhan describes media as "the extensions of man." In the case of my blackberry I completely agree with this. My blackberry is an extension of me. It is also my connection to the world. I used it to communicate with all of my family and friends. It has email, internet, games, a camera, and much more. Since I am so attached to my phone, it is as if it were part of my body. When people call someone on the phone, you are not calling the device, you are calling the person. It is as if the person and the device were the same thing. If you were to take my phone and look through you would be able to learn a lot about me. You would be able to see, who my friends are, who I call the most, what games I play, what kinds of things I am interested in and much more. Since it has so much information about me, my blackberry represents who I am. And I think that this is the case for many people with smartphones. So much of their life is connected to their phones that they become representations of their owner.
Sources:
1. McLuhan, Marshall. Understanding Media: the Extensions of Man. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 1994. Print.
2. Kyle. "BlackBerry Bold vs HTC Touch Pro vs Samsung Epix."
QuicklyBored. Web. 19 Sept. 2010.
http://www.quicklybored.com/2008/10/blackberry-bold-htc-touch-pro-samsung-epix/. (picture)
I like Felipe's post because I can certainly relate to it. After reading this post I went through my blackberry and I noticed all the different things it says about me. It says who I like to talk to, what website I go to, who I email with and what meeetings I have throughout the week. My blackberry has become an extremely important part of my life and it is something that I have become attached to.
ReplyDeleteExcellent post, Felipe. I especially liked the part about the phone being a part of you and that you forget people are calling a device and not yourself. This is something I can definitely relate to, as sometimes I feel as if my cell phone is a part of me too. No longer do I tell people to call my phone, but rather, I tell them to call me. It is now assumed that everyone has a cell phone that they carry at all times, which wasn't true only a few years ago. If someone is over the age of 13 now and doesn't own a cell phone, they are considered abnormal.
ReplyDeleteI like How you view your phone as an extension to yourself. I can easily relate to this situation.
ReplyDeleteGood job applying the McLuhan's reading to your personal experience. To make it a better post, however, you need to ask more interesting questions to either expand or challenge McLuhan's point--McLuhan has NO idea what a BBRY is, do you think he can conceptualize this kind of device in the future? What would he have said about the evolution of media? Adding a depth of history will make your post more interesting.
ReplyDeleteb.e.