I'm ankle-deep into Howard Rheingold's latest novel, "Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution" and its already ringing all kinds of idea bells in my head.
In attempting to explain why Americans haven't taken to the texting phenomenon sweeping Asia and Europe, he quotes anonymous analysts who lay the blame on "clueless marketing" and "competing standards" (p.22). But later on in the same chapter, he raises a more intriguing possibility: the idea that the public and the private are more sharply delineated in North America, due to the sheer amounts of physical space, both public and private, that we North Americans have at our disposal.
He make the point that Japanese teenagers rarely have a private bedroom and have their lives tightly controlled by parents and teachers. Thus, texting via their cellphones gives Japanese teens the ability to have a private space of community that they wholly control and that they can occupy simultaneously with the more public spaces that is their life at school and in the family home.
Contrast this with the world of the US, with the average teen having their own bedroom, their own car, their own computer, a distinct sense of personality separate from their family and a picture of US teenagers with a defined feeling of entitled individuality emerges.
"Japanese don't have...homes large enough to entertain friends and colleagues, private bedrooms for children, kitchens with storage space and appliances, more than one car...free parking for card when out, cheap gas, toll free expressways, PC with Internet access (and space to put a PC in the home), more than one phone line with competitive rates...
All of these items work for the use of the private and against the use of street and public spaces. Americans move between private nucleated homes, private transport and often private offices and cubicles as well, with quick forays in the car to shop occasionally (not daily grocery shopping as in Japan)and use of public space and restaurants has the sense of an optional excursion rather than a necessity."::p.23::
All of these items work for the use of the private and against the use of street and public spaces. Americans move between private nucleated homes, private transport and often private offices and cubicles as well, with quick forays in the car to shop occasionally (not daily grocery shopping as in Japan)and use of public space and restaurants has the sense of an optional excursion rather than a necessity."
One notable omission: Rheingold oddly ignores Canada completely. I say oddly because Canadians still have one of the quickest and highest adoptions of telecommunication techs in the world, certainly higher than in the US. I don't have an exact figure to quote or link to prove this assertion, however. If you've got one, send it over to me and I'll include it.
