Reading the Fine Print

This article published today brings notice of the deepening enmeshment of mobile technology with the individual's touch points in society. Nothing particularly new, just noteworthy. Although I have been thinking for some time about the mobile phone as one's personal daemon, I was a bit shaken by this comment: "We want to make the cellphone the center of life" (Shim Gi-tae of SK Telecom). I take the comment at its face value, which is the more troubling aspect. I suppose we're headed toward the day when one's dying thought might be "I wish I'd had a better cell phone."

Rosabeth Moss Kanter questions the changing concept of privacy in this context:

Has the culture already changed so much that people don't care about privacy any
more? Has being on public display all the time made
exhibitionism (teenage style) and self-directed exposure of personal information
(social network website style) preferable to privacy?

She says no - and imagines this will open up new business opportunities for devising means of opting out. I think she's a bit too fast with her answer.

The issue is that most people aren't really thinking about consequences (the terms of the deal); they're making trade-offs about which they simply are not conscious. When teenagers disclose too much online, they don't consider just how public the display is -- as evidenced by their outrage when they learn of parents watching the YouTube videos of their escapades. They think they're publishing to 'friends' (whatever that means in this commercialized age), and ignore the potential consequences when parents, the admissions officer at a university, or potential employer view their public displays. Although on-line teens can't claim they never heard the warnings, they choose to consider this the fine print that is too tiresome to read or even consider.

I've been advocating for mobile commerce for some time, so have to question my unease with its evolution. Mobile technology is facilitating grassroots business opportunities around the world, which is in turn empowering women from cultures in which they are long used to dependence and poverty. It's not whether mobile commerce can be put to good use, or even profitable use, that is at question. I think it's time to consider: what are the outcomes we want?

If we look at the catalysts for the current economic crisis, it's clear that societies and individuals benefited from the treats dangled in front of us, with no real consideration for the trade offs. It's no use claiming we didn't know what we were trading off; we just chose to ignore it. On paper, it was all good: people appeared to be house rich, and borrowed against the equity in their houses, using debt to fuel a higher standard of living. People thought they were living better lives, because of the stuff they had acquired -- and they conflated their lives with the stuff in their lives. People also saw the extreme wealth being generated for the titans of the banking and financial services industry, which was based on the housing bubble and the credit markets and clearly was not sustainable -- but like any gull, the public was distracted by the lure of shiny baubles. We could have benefited from a serious consideration of what outcomes we want -- for our society, for global relationships.

One outcome I hope for is enrichment of lives -- which requires a long horizon, and spills over national and cultural boundaries, as life does. Spending less time paying for a commercial transaction would support this outcome, but additionally we must examine the means being used, to ensure they are also consistent with enriching lives, not just bank accounts.