{"id":16665,"date":"2013-08-26T09:11:18","date_gmt":"2013-08-26T13:11:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/cyborgology\/?p=16665"},"modified":"2014-05-05T10:46:02","modified_gmt":"2014-05-05T14:46:02","slug":"the-problem-with-the-i-forgot-my-phone-video","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/cyborgology\/2013\/08\/26\/the-problem-with-the-i-forgot-my-phone-video\/","title":{"rendered":"The Problem With The “I Forgot My Phone” Video"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"or<\/a>
…or just get new friends?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The easiest, laziest<\/a>, most click-baitiest op-ed, trend video, or thing to scream at a bar right now is how, with today\u2019s technologies, we are more connected but also more alone<\/i>. Ooh. Zuckerberg has 500 million friends but it was never really a spoiler to say that Sorkin’s\u00a0The Social Network<\/i><\/a> ends with him sitting alone at a computer. Ooh<\/em>.\u00a0The Turkle-esque irony is just too good for it not to zeitgeist all over the place.<\/p>\n

That argument should not be altogether dismissed but I am quite skeptical of where it\u2019s so often coming from and how it\u2019s articulated. This trend might be largely disingenuous, and by that I do not mean intentionally insincere but instead a sort of cultural positioning: we-are-connected-but-alone not only drips with that delicious ironic juxtaposition, it simultaneously props the person making the case as being somehow deeper, more human, more in touch with others and experience.<\/p>\n

We could critique this prominent cultural narrative about technology at this level alone, but there\u2019s an added layer: the whole premise is largely false. Research<\/a> suggests over and over again that people are using mobile devices and social media to connect more with others, even face to face. The technologies of isolation and loneliness were the automobile and the television, and even though we\u2019re starting to see a reversal of the long term rise in social isolation (for some [pdf]<\/a>), there continues to be cultural insecurity around loneliness. Which is understandable, but misplacing our worries on one of the few trends that is pushing back against isolation isn\u2019t helpful.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve said all of that more than a few times before, and I\u2019m bringing it up again here to comment on a short video that has very recently and totally unsurprisingly gone all viral. I\u2019ve written about it in longer form and lesser snark for a larger piece I\u2019m working on, but some folks asked for my thoughts in the interim. So, \u201cI Forgot My Phone\u201d:<\/p>\n