Mobile phone users: are we now cyborgs
The term cyborg is used to designate an organism which is a mixture of organic and synthetic parts so designed to enhance its abilities via technology. William Mitchell a professor at MIT Media Lab believes that through our mobile devices we are all becoming mobile cyborgs and its for the better. In his book Me++: The Cyborg Self and the Networked City which he discusses in an interview with James Harkin Mitchell describes how the new communications technologies have overlaid our city spaces with central nervous systems connecting us into the wireless ether via our mobile devices which act as umbilical cords to anchor us into the information society's digital infrastructure.
It might sound simplistic but for me personally I dont mind becoming a cyborg if the technology helps me connect better to other people. I have bigger problems with being a cyborg if it is means I am in danger of retreating into my own world of fantasy or even music instead of engaging in the real world of relationships and concrete objects.
Harkin also discusses the death of offices in cities saying that "If you go into corporate offices today the private offices are closed and dark; the workers are out in hotel rooms or on the move. The wireless laptop culture, he says, is increasing the value of sit-down space just like this. Unassigned space, what used to be thought of as non-productive space, is actually where all the real action happens."
This resonates for me with the new emerging forms of virtual work such as the virtual professional community.
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