Reports

Fifty years ago, mobiles seemed like an invention from the pages of science fiction and only twenty-five years ago they were part of the uniform of yuppies and elite professionals. Now all you have to do is walk along any street or square to see just how much things have changed: they have become mass consumer products and hundreds of millions of people all over the world, especially young people and children, have made them part of their everyday communicative life. The kingdom of the landline has had its day and there are now more mobile telephones than people in countries such as ours. But the changes have not only left their mark on the developed world: wireless communication has shown itself to be ideal for enabling developing countries to reduce the connectivity gap to which they appear condemned. Once again, history is teaching us a lesson: people end up using technology for very different purposes from those envisaged by its creators and they shape it according to their habits, values and projects.

This new reality poses numerous questions: Are mobiles a sign of identity or a fashion? How do they affect family and work life? Are the concepts of time and space changing? Do they really make us freer and more independent like the adverts say? What new inequalities does the arrival of this technology involve between developed and developing countries?

"The answers to these questions affect our lives and also condition public policies, business strategies, etc. Despite all this, and due to the speed of technological transformations and the impatience in obtaining a competitive edge in the new system, decisions are taken without us understanding very well the social, economic and political implications of wireless communication technologies. Often, the suppositions that are hidden behind these decisions are unjustified", says Mireia Fernández Ardèvol, researcher at the UOC.

Once of the first consequences brought about by mobiles has been to increase independence on the part of the participants in the communicative process, in terms of space, time and, to some extent, cultural and social rules. They ensure that we are always available and that we can choose with whom we want to communicate, from where and when, which is why they have made the contacts network dependant on the users' desires. But these 'gains' do not go against a rise in security, as they allow users to relate freely with the world while maintaining even stronger contact with their personal network should they need to.

The mobile has given us all as citizens, members of a community, an unimaginable power. One of the most important communicative practices has been the spontaneous appearance of instant practice communities that aim to mobilise others, invite you to meet up or share. Who has not received an SMS inviting them to a party at an alternative location or go on different demonstrations against property prices? Many of us will undoubtedly remember the SMS that were sent to arrange marches in different Spanish cities following the terrorist attacks of 11 March 2004 in Madrid. That Saturday 13th, mobile messaging traffic rose by 20% and by 40% on Sunday 14th. The general trend in our society of groups that shun formal structures of interaction and participation finds in the technological platform the capacity to call to action. However, that message will only be successful if it is distributed in a network of affinity. Wireless communication considerably increases the power of people, provides them with access to information and makes them independent from formal sources.

It has been demonstrated that people adapt technology to fit their needs and not vice versa. They invent new uses and even a new language has been created, adapting the existing one to the formats and limits imposed by this new technology and its cost. Users are true content producers and use mobile communication for family and professional life, and also for commercial transactions or music distribution. Despite what many people first thought, this use is not a fashion issue – although the design and personalisation are important for young people – but one of identity. For users, having a mobile is a source of personal esteem and it enables them to feel part of a society that functions this way. This is why access to wireless communication is a social right. What access to libraries or education was a century ago is now the right to reliable and attainable access to the mobile communication network.

The limits of space and time have become blurred and, often, organisational contexts and social practices become intertwined. This is what happens when, during work time and from the airport, users call their family or take advantage of the time to organise Saturday's dinner with their friends. Individual interaction networks tend to be independent from organisations, institutions, rules and material limits according to their convenience and adaptation to individual projects. In material terms, this creates an extraordinary boost to the culture of individualism.

What is the right time for this individual to remove themselves from the environment they are in so that they can make their call? When can students send an SMS during school time? We need a new definition of the educational rules to establish how we should behave in these communicative processes.

The problems posed

In this twenty-first century world it is easy to imagine that the limits of access to this communication system are becoming a serious social problem. New factors have appeared in our developed societies that amplify the digital gap: together with income, geographical location or the level of education, age and physical disabilities are now excluding factors.

However, we must be positive: if the minimum conditions are in place, users make a real effort to have access to the network, as some experiences show. Consequently, pre-paid cards and chat time rental have contributed to the dissemination of their use in developing countries and among low-income segments of the population in developed countries. In China, the Little Smart telephone system has been extensively extended among the working population, far from the sophisticated professionals in Shanghai, or new businesses have sprung up in remote parts of African countries thanks to mobiles.

Yet, apart from being a source of possible inequalities, the rapid dissemination of wireless communication shows new vulnerabilities such as viruses, new dangers such as a rise in traffic accidents or a growing concern for the consequences that living surrounded by electromagnetic fields may have for our health or for privacy-related issues.

According to the book's authors, this proof reminds us that the power of technology does not do away with human ills, but rather it amplifies them, unless they are ripped up from the social root.