ABSTRACT
The spatial nature of the mobile phone as a reading interface made itself obvious to me one morning as I was driving to work with a colleague from my university. The previous day I had my undergraduate class of 35 students each connect to a system that shared text messages to each other’s phones and had instructed them to send updates about their location and activities to the class at least once a day. As I carpooled with my colleague to our campus, my phone began to beep every few minutes with a new update from the students. As we drove, I would respond to the intonations from my phone by taking the device out of my pocket, looking at the screen, and then putting it away again after I had read the text message. One of the messages was particularly hum orous and I chuckled as I put the phone back in my pocket. My colleague responded, “Would you please stop doing that?” “Doing what?” I asked. I explained the assignment and why I found it an important exploration of social proprioception and connecting in intimate ways when not in immediate proximity. “Well, it feels like two people are whispering back and forth right next to me and I’m not included in the conversation.” In this moment, the obvious tension between the mobile device as an individual interface and as a tool for connecting socially with others finally made itself very clear. In the car, I felt a distinct sense of connectivity with my class; however, the mode of connectivity was simultaneously an isolating and excluding activity due to the nature of the interface and its design for individual, rather than group, consumption.
