American University Technology Observers

"Hell is Other iPods"

2006-12-06T08:16:00.000-08:00

Below is the abstract to an article I came across. It discusses how iPods are thought to be a fabulous part of our culture, when really it is anything but.

"Melville comments how the iPods revolutionize people's lives. The iPod is an example of a beautifully designed, convenient, and desirable object that promises to make people's lives better, but whose promise, on reflection, as is so often the case, turns out to reinforce the worst in their already denuded culture. For all the cachet and control implied by the iPod, the laptop, the BlackBerry, the digital camera, and wi-fi, in the end what seems to be an offer are particular kinds of distraction and avoidance, and a peculiar kind of 21st-century digital loneliness."

Because I found it on ProQuest, I am unable to link it as not everyone has it. Here is the information if you wish to locate it!:

Casper Melville
"Hell is Other iPods"
Utne
July/ August 2005, Iss 130, pg 55

Facebook Groups

2006-12-05T23:12:00.000-08:00

While surfing the internet, I stumbled across a very interesting Facebook group: My Cell Phone is My Other Half

The description included on the page is as follows:
Are you constantly on your cell phone? Do you text message your friends in the middle of class? Are you afraid to walk across campus without it? This group is for those poor souls who would not be able to live happy lifes without their cell phones...

For those wanting to see this group, click here.

Morning in Woodley Park

2006-12-05T16:46:00.000-08:00

8:30am outside the Woodley Park-Zoo/Adams Morgan metro stop on Connecticut Ave. Several men in business suits walk by in a hurry, almost all with laptop cases and about half with earbuds in their ears. Two are talking on their cellphones. Six people are standing on the street waiting for the elevator, two are listening to music, none say a word to each other. Men in orange vests blowing leaves off Woodley Rd. are talking to each other with their cellphones' walkie-talkie feature. A ragged-looking man with a cupful of change and a cardboard sign that says "Elect a Homeless Guy for President!" answers his cellphone.

At the Reserves

2006-12-05T10:46:00.000-08:00

While working in the reserves section of the library today a student came up to request a book. The student was listening to a ipod with a pink plastic case covering it. She gave me the call number but never took out her earphones or turned off her ipod. when i got the book for her I handed it to her. She took the book without saying anything or ever removing her ipod. It seemed she was more involved in her "iWorld" then in the real world.
Another student with an ipod came to the desk a few hours later to request a book. He removed on earpiece asked how I was doing and gave me the call number. When I retrieved the book for him, he thanked me, replaced his earphone and left.

"Can I call you back? I'm in class."

2006-12-05T00:42:00.000-08:00

Every professor has a different way of reaction to cell phones going off in class.

Today in my introductory psychology class, Psych as a Natural Science, a cell phone went off. The ringtone seemed to be a Christmas song. Because the girl was unable to turn her ringer off quickly enough, the professor walked over to her and asked for her phone. However, the person who had called hung up before she was able to answer it. Unable to figure out how to find the number of the person who called, she handed the phone back to the student. It began to ring again. The professor took it from the girl, answered it, and said: "Hello. How are you? Lorraine is busy. She is expanding her IQ right now. Bye!" and hung up.

However, not all professors stay so calm. Attached here is a video from YouTube that depicts one professor's reaction to a phone going off in class, and the student's reaction to it.

Shh... No Cell Phones Allowed!

2006-12-05T00:25:00.000-08:00

Tuesday night around 8:30 pm. Bender Library. Bottom floor near periodicals.

A phone at the table behind me is making beeping noises to get the attention of its owner. It sounds like a low battery alert. 7 people turn around to see where the noise is coming from. Within my view, there are three cell phones not in use, but lying on tables next to laptops.

A girl siting diagonally to my left and back has her cell phone lying open on the table. She appears to be waiting for a call.

The girl sitting across from me has a blue phone, shaped like a jelly bean. She pushes a button on the side to check the time every 10 minutes or so.

A Tale of Two Airports: Cell Phone Use at Baltimore-Washington and Detroit International

2006-12-04T23:54:00.000-08:00

Tuesday before Thanksgiving at BWI:

Sitting no more than 10 feet from me is this man, his wife, and two sons. He speaks very loudly to his father whom he is talking to on his cell phone. He says, "Meet you at the hotel...I don't think we want two rooms... Either one room or a suite... Two queen size or two full size... Wake us up if anything happens." His phone is in a black cover case. The man also only holds it up to his left ear. After the conversation, he relays all the information he discussed during the conversation to his wife.

A young girl dressed in fairly trendy clothing walks by. Her phone is black, but does not have a cover. She holds it up to her left ear as well.

Sitting across the walkway is a middle-aged woman wearing a pant-suit talking extremely loudly. She seems to be arguing with the person she is on the phone with.

A man in a stone colored jacket, also across the aisle, has a couple of conversations using his cell phone. He puts on his jacket while talking on the phone. To do this, he holds his phone up to his left ear with his right hand. The phone he is using is uncovered and silver. During the second conversation, he begins walking in circles around his carry-on bag. He switches the hand that holds the phone without switching the ear he is listening with.

On the same side of the walkway as me about 10 feet away against a wall is a man sitting on the floor with a woman and a cat. He receives a phone call and answers by saying "Hey. We're at the gate." While talking, he helps the woman put the cat in the carrying case and holds the phone up to his ear with his shoulder.

A woman waiting to board the flight stands in line with a friend. She plays her ring tone for her. It sounds like a popular hip-hop song.

A man in a business suit walks by. His phone is in a cover-case and is attached to his hip.

A man in a grey trench coat waits in line, and talks on his phone. He holds his phone to his left ear, and plugs the other ear with his right index finger. His eyes are shut.

Detroit Airport:

A lot of people are standing near walls or next to polls talking on cell phones. The man above is an example.

A woman sitting to my left is speaking an Asian language to the person she is on the phone with. She holds her cell phone on the right side of her head. She does not speak very loudly.

An African-American woman sitting to my right calls a person from home about picking her up. She agrees to baby-sit the child of the person she is on the phone with. Her phone is held up to her right ear.

Adams Morgan

2006-12-04T20:24:00.001-08:00

On 18^th St. in Adams Morgan at about 11:30am on a Sunday, over the course of fifteen minutes thirty-eight people were observed using cellphones. Of these, twenty-seven were speaking and eleven were looking at the screen (presumably text messaging or looking up a number). Five of these people appeared to be walking with one or more other people, and the rest were obviously alone. Twenty-three kept their eyes fixed on the ground, while fifteen looked forward. None acknowledged any other person on the street. The majority of cellphone users actually talking on them seemed to walk faster than the flow of pedestrian traffic, while those that were looking at their screens walked slower.

Afternoon in the Metro

2006-12-04T20:10:00.001-08:00

While on the Metro's red line between Tenleytown and Woodley Park at approximately 3:00pm on a Saturday, I observed a total of twenty eight people. Of these, twelve were using some sort of portable music player and one was using a laptop computer. None of these people seemed to be traveling with another person or holding a conversation. Likewise, I noticed only nine cases total of any of these people glancing at others, and only one where they acknowledged another person (after bumping into them and apologizing).

It's a bird! It's a plane!

2006-12-04T17:42:00.000-08:00

This video from umpatriots.com touches (rather humorously) on the issue of cell phones ringing in class, something that happens all too often in college.

View with WMV
View with Quicktime 7

My question is, was the stunt worth the busted phone?

AU Gamers

2006-12-03T13:31:00.000-08:00

At a meeting of the American University Gamers on Saturday the 2nd of December, many gamers had gathered to play the new and revolutionary game system, the Nintendo Wii. Many others were playing various board games and card games. I observed one gamer who sat in a dark corner of the room with her laptop. She wore headphones and had a microphone that she was talking into. I went to see what she was doing and observed that she was playing an online role-playing game. It appeared that she was conversing with the other players in the game with her microphone, but she paid little attention to the gamers present in the room. She only spoke to other gamers nearby if they asked what she was doing or if they could watch, but she otherwise did not socialize with them, speaking only with her virtual friends.

Dulles Airport

2006-12-02T14:29:00.000-08:00

While waiting for my flight in Dullas I observed a few passengers listening to mp3s while waiting to board the plane. Here are some of my observations.

There are 7 people listening to MP3 players while waiting in the terminal for a flight to Heathrow Airpot in England.
Two young men are listening to ipods as they sit alone. Both are reading the paper, one is reading the sports section while the other is reading the front page.
A teenage girl is listening to an ipod with her family of 5. While the family is all talking to each other, the teenage girl listens to her ipod, but still interacts in the conversation. She never removes her earpieces to talk or listen to what someone else is saying. The parents of the girl do not seem to care that the girl is listening to music instead of interacting with the family.
A couple are sitting next to each other, both listening to seperate ipod. They sparidocally chat with each other. Sometimes they remove their earpieces, but the majority of the time they either continued to listen to music while they chatted, or they stopped their mp3 player.
Two boys are watching a video on their video ipod. They are sharing there earphones, each boy with one earpiece. They watch the video until the flight boards. The parents are next to them reading.

Laptops in class - with a guest lecturer?

2006-11-30T20:12:00.000-08:00

It is November 30th, and there is a guest speaker in my Sociology class, Views from the Third World. Most of the students are paying attention to the guest speaker and participating in a discussion about the Israel-Palestine conflict. Three students are using their laptops. One of them is sitting near the front and is clearly taking notes on the discussion. The two others sitting closer to the middle that are using laptops are browsing such websites as Facebook and Myspace and are clearly not paying attention to the guest speaker. Anyone sitting behind them would easily notice that they are not using their laptops for any sort of schoolwork, and the guest speaker and the professor should easily have noticed that these students were focusing solely on their computers, but there was no response from either.

In Front of MGC

2006-11-30T19:14:00.000-08:00

In Front of Mary Graden Center - 5:00 PM November 30th
While sitting outside of MGC I oberserved 24 people walk by listening to an mp3 player. The majority walked by and did not interact with anyone they passed. Here are some of the more interesting observations for the day.

A young man walks by with ipod, he looks down at the path and never looks up while walking. He quickly walks past MGC without greeting anyone he passes.

A girl walks by alone drinking coffe and listening to her ipod
A guy walks walks be and listens to ipod, he says hello to a girl but does not stop to have a conversation. Instead he keeps walking towards his desitnation.
A girl walks to the library with an ipod and lots of books. She does not acknowledge anyone as she walks by.
a guy walks by wearing earphones and sending a textmessage on his phone. He then meets up with a few freinds are removes his headphones. After talking for a few minutes he replaces his earphoines and continues walking.
A guy walks by listening to ipod. He takes out one of his earpieces and calls someone on his phone. He does not stop his mp3 player. When the person he was calling apparently picks up the phone he takes out the other earpieces and walks away.

iCulture

2006-11-30T11:06:00.000-08:00

Here is a short article on the iCulture and how it is impacting our society.
Some Call It Culture, Others Call It Cult Activity

Society is dead, we have retreated into the iWorld

2006-11-29T14:47:00.000-08:00

Here is an article from the Times Online that discusses the impact of ipods on our society. The columinst, Andrew Sullivan agrues that we have retreated from society to the comfort of the iWorld.
Comment: Andrew Sullivan: Society is dead, we have retreated into the iWorld