An interview with Belinda Barnet, from Swinburne University
"Mobiles are definitely having an effect on society and on youth culture in particular, but there is little public discussion of this. In Australia, the media is more interested in hysterical stories about mobile phones causing brain tumours or literacy problems in children. The real-world effects of mobile use are more subtle, and they touch all of us – not just kids. I don’t think these effects are detrimental either. As you point out, mobile devices are always on, always connected to the network – and in Australia at least, they are in the pocket of over 96% of the population. Many of these devices are also equipped with cameras and the ability to send and receive images. So for the first time in history, we have a citizenry who are in perpetual contact with the network, who are able to send and receive images wherever they are, who are never ‘offline’ unless they choose to be. If there is any kind of news event, a natural disaster or celebrity sighting for example, then someone is usually there with a camera in their pocket to capture it; perpetual surveillance."
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