Devices vary, but your average smartphone may use more than 60 different metals. Many of them are rare earth metals, so-called because they’re available in smaller quantities than many other metals, if not genuinely rare.
There is also limitations on the ability to recycle or refurbish devices, with significant challenges associated with replacing parts. This is also something that Adam Greenfield discusses in his book Radical Technologies.
via Douglas Rushkoff
This post started as a response to a possible future of technology. However, it grew and grew, so I have split it up. This then is a response to my reading of James Bridleโs book The New Dark Age and the place of the future of the smartphone.
John Philpin recently wrote a response to a post from John Harris I shared discussing the destructive nature of mobile phones. He asked:
For me, this is such an intriguing question. My initial response was a little circumspect. In particular, I think the idea of โbetterโ is problematic and instead argue for difference. This particular change is captured by Vala Afshar in the form of emojis:
There is no doubting that the smartphone has simplified so many actions and activities. When I think of my own habits, my writing and reading often starts with my phone, whether it be flicking through my feed reader or jotting down a few notes.
Yet I am left feeling something is still missing in the discussion. I wonder about the inherent design and consequence of smartphone use? I wonder about those places involved in the production? I wonder about the ethics involved?
This is something Adam Greenfield captures in his book Radical Technologies:
I am not necessarily arguing we should โbanโ smartphones in schools as it often feels like such decisions are sometimes made for the wrong reasons, whether it be liability or control. Instead I am striving for more critical reflection.
Here I am reminded of Doug Belshawโs work on digital literacies. Rather than defining it as a thing in itself, Belshaw discusses eight different elements that come to play in different contexts and situations:
Cultural โ the expectations and behaviours associated with different environments, both online and off.
Cognitive โ the ability to use computational thinking in order to work through problems.
Constructive โ the appropriate use of digital tools to enable social actions.
Communicative โ sharing and engaging within the various cultural norms.
Confident โ the connecting of the dots and capitalising on different possibilities.
Creative โ this involves doing new things in new ways that somehow add value.
Critical โ the analysis of assumptions behind literacy practises
Civic โ the something being analysed.
Too often the focus of mobile technology in education is on cognition and communicative, rather than the critical and constructive. We are often willing to talk about moonshots and wicked problems unwilling to let go of certain assumptions and certifications.
Clay Shirky suggests that workflows need to be a little frustrating:
To return to Adam Greenfield, he argues that rather than being flexible and aware of our impact, we have bought into an ethos of efficiency of everyday existence.
The question is at what cost? Should students be encouraged to use the portable over a more complicated device? Is it an โeverything nowโ cloud computing that we should aspire to? As I hold my old Nexus phone, I wonder what is it we actually need verses want? What next, phones inserted under our skin? As Douglas Rushkoff suggests, โWhat makes a phone great is not how new it is, but how long it lasts.โ
So what about you? What are your thoughts on the โsmartphone revolutionโ? As always, comments and webmentions welcome.
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Would the World Be Better without Mobile Devices? by Aaron Davis is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
This dive into the world of the Amazon Echo provides an insight into the way that engages with vast planetary network of systems in a complicated assemblage. This includes the use of rare metals, data mining, slavery and black box of secrets. These are topics touched upon by others, such as Douglas Rushkoff and Kin Lane, where this piece differs though is the depth it goes to. Through the numerous anecdotes, it is also reminder why history matters.
Marginalia
via Doug Belshaw