The use of technology is so new to our society, in the last 10 to 15 years or so, and yet most people do not even think twice about pulling out their cell phone or looking a phone number up on the internet instead of using a phone book. This is because all of these technologies have been fully integrated into our culture, so much that we even use this technology for social activism and protests.
In Howard Rheingold’s article on smart mobs he discusses how mobs have now become “smart”, meaning that they are using these mobile devices or other technologies to organize groups, meetings and even their protests.
Although, it is not only mobs using these devices for arranging meetings or group activities, parents and police forces are using these devices to help track missing or stranded people. This is able to work because these “mobile devices constantly let cell towers and the mobile switching center, which is connected to multiple towers, know of their location. The mobile switching center uses the location information to ensure that incoming calls and messages are routed to the tower nearest to the user”.
In using this technology the “mobs” are being smarter because they are able to find these stranded or missing people much faster then they would if they were not taking full advantage of all the technology available.
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I agree with you in the people never think twice about using technology to their advantage. I could never imagine writing a report without researching on the computer. I don’t use libraries anymore. Instead, I’ll access the libraries online. If my cell phone or internet broke, I wouldn’t know what to do. I think that the location device with the cell phone is excellent. If someone becomes abducted, it is much easier to track them down through their cell phone due to this advance in technology.
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