Mobile social networking has had more false starts than most “next wave” technologies, with the mild successes of dodgeball, jaiku, twitter, and LimeJuice. But so far they’ve been a mixed bag. Yes, Jaiku was acquried by Google, which is always cool, but did anyone really use it? And yes, Twitter almost qualifies as a runaway success, but more as a blogging alternative than as a social network. So what is different now? Ask Michael Arrington, and he’ll tell you it’s the device, the iPhone in this case.
I recommend reading Mike’s exclusive preview of the app, since he is really the only person in a position to review it. But after you do, consider some of his conclusions, and their implications. He thinks people will waltz into bars confident that their mobile phone will tell them which way to turn for a stimulating conversation, or romantic encounter. The phone will tell you the name and profile of everyone around you, maybe even a few pics they’ve chosen to share (though that seems redundant since they’re standing RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU). Armed with that knowledge you then…then…take the leap of faith and…engage in conversation. That is where I see a problem. You can lead a geek to water, but you can’t make him socialize.
I know I’m not being fair to geeks here, but I think if this catches on it will encourage exactly the wrong kind of behavior and lead to even more social atrophy. Why? Because it lets your computer hold your hand even longer, so you are even less engaged in the real world. We’re already cut off enough from our surroundings by spending 8-12+ hours at a desk in front of a monitor, along with our mobile phones (especially if they’re iPhones). So extending that safety net of artificial interaction only decreases the time our brains spend each day helping us function like normal human beings. You might call it “cloud thinking,” everything we need to know and say is hosted somewhere other than our brains. Wonderful!
In fact, take a look at the graphic TC used for the article (which I reposted here). Isn’t “Cloud thinking” exactly what it seems to be implying?
Apparently I’m not the only one with this view
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1 response so far ↓
1 Addie // Apr 14, 2008 at 8:52 am
Just because at current date only the “geek” population wakes eats and dines with their computer/handheld, doesn’t mean in the future this will be the norm. As computing ubiquity becomes seamless and “invisible” we will unkowingly become increasingly reliant on a mobile telecommunications device. I think that the standard will be for “normal” people to be reliant on their phones and the geeks will move onto the next great thing.
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