Remote Possibilities

A must read, Clive Thompson's article for the The New York Times Magazine, entitled Remote Possibilites, which looks into some of the many (weird) ways today's mobile phones are used:

-- As teleportation devices : Wiring your house so that it can be remotely manipulated by mobile phone -- turning kitchen appliances on and off from the supermarket, for example. cf related article.

-- Feeding your cat left at home from anywhere in the world using your mobile phone, thanks to a remote control pet feeder.

-- Viewing a Webcam that allows you to zoom in or pann the room, turned on at home to check on a nanny with your kid, or on an elderly relative, contorlled and seen through from a mobile phone.

-- Cameraphones are bringing on great changes, making us live in a world with a million prying eyes - Mobile-phone executives are already talking about the advent of ''citizen reporters'' and a world where news breaks first via handsets.

Some interesting studies:

-- Mobile phones are making us ruder: 71 percent of mobile-phone users admit they are now consistently late for social events. Why? Because they can send a flurry of text-messages explaining where they are, how fast they're moving and precisely when they'll arrive, down to the minute.

-- Teenagers -- think nothing of sending dozens of messages a day to a single friend, keeping them in almost telepathic contact with each other. Qnd partners who do not live together may trade up to 100 text messages a day.

-- The single most commonly sent text message is ''Where are you?''

-- Mobile-phone texters, actually feel more disconnected from the world around them. ''When you're waiting for the bus and it's late, you could talk to the person next to you. But if you're texting to someone, you won't talk to that stranger,''

-- 20 percent of Norwegian teenagers are up past midnight at least one night a week texting with friends, destroying their sleep habits.

emily | 3:56 PM | SMS Studies & Research |
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