Cell phones and the Internet have been the recipients of in-depth
research on their increased and rapid integration into everyday life and
the innovative appropriations associated with them in many societies.
The cell phone has attracted particular attention in its perceived
abilities to both enhance and destruct social relationships. Our
increased access to social media and to the cell phone has taken social
networking to an unprecedented level. These communication technologies
are revered by many as great, all-purpose, all-positive communication
devices in spite of their flaws. They are overwhelmingly bestowed with
agency and superiority. Too often, they are idolized with little regard
to how they affect and are affected by their users on a personal level.
The mutual shaping between technology and society is not adequately
acknowledged. Technologies, in spite of the seemingly endless
possibilities offered by their many functions, can quite literally be
sterile and useless objects outside of conscious and tangible human
effort. Cell phones and the Internet, though undoubtedly capable of
providing myriad beneficial opportunities for their users, need at long
last to be put in their place. This book is a contribution in that
regard. Kindled by her own intimate history with her cell phone and a
growing curiosity about ICTs in general, this book is a culmination of
Crystal Powell's thoughts, reactions to and interpretations of some of
the literature on these technologies. The book draws on and critically
reviews contributions by some leading authors on the social shaping of
ICTs and social media to offer a more nuanced and complex understanding
of technology in relation to those who use and are used by it.
