Mobile Observations

After reading the article, “New Media and Society,” I feel that I have better insight into some of the behaviors of people when friends are engaging in “cross talk” that I never would have necessarily noticed before. I think that most of the observations made still exist today. I know that if I am at a restaurant or anywhere and my friend is engaged in a phone call, I either take out my phone at text someone, check emails, browse the web, or even just make it look like I’m doing something. In addition, I think that people will drink coffee and look around at the surrounding environment so as to not seem awkward and alone while someone else is engaged in conversation that doesn’t include you. While I think that many of the behaviors noted in the article are the same today, I think that one aspect has changed drastically. Now, more than anything else, I feel that people will take out their own cell phones and engage in text messaging or browsing through their phones in order to seem engaged and not appear as a “single.” This idea is discussed in the study but doesn’t seem to be the overwhelming response to cross talk as I feel that it is today.

I think the various terms of the study were pretty comprehensive. I think the idea of cross talk is an important one, as it definitely does happen more and more with increased cell phone use in today’s society. I found the idea of the three-way interactions interesting especially because throughout this week, I have observed this happening once or twice. When the “single” knows the person on the other end of the phone call, it is often true that they will attempt to engage in the conversation based only on the part they hear from their friend. It is interesting to see this occur since they are only hearing half of the conversation and attempting to respond, but it is definitely something that I have observed around campus this week. In addition, the idea discussed about caller hegemony interested me because it is also something that is regularly observable around this campus and everywhere in public. For example, a girl that I was sitting near in Starbucks on Thursday decided to answer her phone even though it seemed like she was engaged in a serious and deep conversations with the person that she was with. It is interesting and somewhat surprising to me that this occurs, but as it was pointed out in the article, it is true that when a landline phone rings, its customary to drop whatever people are doing and answer it. I never really thought about that carrying over into cell phone use, but it is obvious from observation that it does.

I think if I were doing this study, I would discuss the use of cell phones and how people react when they are at the cashier in a store and are talking on the phone. It is interesting to see people when they check out, and to notice if they hang up, tell the caller to hold on, or attempt to maintain a conversation with both people at once. In addition to this idea, I have also witnessed people lately that are on wireless headsets when they talk on the phone. One of the major things I’ve noticed in stores and on campus is that these people often get confused looks when they are speaking on their phones through headset because no one realizes at first that they are on the phone and not speaking to them. I used to work in retail and there were many times I was out on the floor attempting to help customers and I would misunderstand something that was said to a caller through an earpiece.