ABSTRACT
What is the ‘identity’ of the mobile phone in China? What are the processes related to its social construction? Are they different from those recognized in Western countries? If so, how different? Before answering these questions, it is necessary to explain why we use the term ‘identity’ in discussion of the mobile phone. We are encouraged to do so, first of all, because of the notable tendency for people to attach to an object (mobile phone) certain metaphors and characteristics which were once only applicable to human beings. The tendency is manifest in expressions such as ‘machines that become us’ (Katz 2003), ‘when things start to think’ (Gershenfeld 1999), and ‘intellective machines’ (Maldonado 1997). This happens because technological objects, especially those related to information and communication technologies (ICTs), are increasingly humanized (Contarello et al. 2008). The ontological distance between technological objects and human beings is becoming shorter (Latour 1998) and, in particular, the mobile phone is subjected to strong processes of hybridization with the human body (Fortunati et al. 2003).
