The Global Smartphone Beyond a youth technology

• Main Authors: Miller, Daniel, Abed Rabho, Laila, Awondo, Patrick, de Vries, Maya, Duque, Marília, Garvey, Pauline, Haapio-Kirk, Laura, Hawkins, Charlotte, Otaegui, Alfonso, Walton, Shireen, Wang, Xinyuan
• Format: eBook
• Language: English
• Published: London UCL Press 2021
• Edition: 1
• Series: Ageing with Smartphones
• Subjects: ageing; Anthropology; Communication studies; Computers and older people; Cultural and media studies; Cultural studies; ethnography; Impact of science and technology on society; Interdisciplinary studies; Italy; JBCC1 Popular culture; Mathematics and Science; Media studies; new technology; older people; popular culture; Reference, Information and Interdisciplinary subjects; Science: general issues; Smartphones; Social and cultural anthropology; Society and culture: general; Society and Social Sciences; Sociology; Sociology and anthropology; Technology and older people
• ISBN: 9781787359628; 1787359646; 1787359611; 1787359654; 9781787359635; 9781787359659; 9781787359642; 9781787359611; 178735962X; 1787359638
• DOI: 10.14324/111.9781787359611

The smartphone is often literally right in front of our nose, so you would think we would know what it is. But do we? To find out, 11 anthropologists each spent 16 months living in communities in Africa, Asia, Europe and South America, focusing on the take up of smartphones by older people. Their re...

Table of Contents:

• Cover -- Half Title -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Contents -- Chapter summaries -- List of figures -- List of abbreviations -- List of contributors -- Series Foreword -- Acknowledgements -- 1 Introduction -- The smart and the phone -- An outline of our project -- The fieldsites -- Bento, São Paulo, Brazil -- Cuan, Ireland -- Dar al-Hawa, Al-Quds (East Jerusalem) -- Kampala, Uganda -- Kyoto and Kōchi, Japan -- NoLo, Milan, Italy -- Santiago, Chile -- Shanghai, China -- Thornhill, Dublin, Ireland -- Yaoundé, Cameroon -- History of the smartphone -- Anthropology and other disciplines -- Externalities -- Conclusion -- Notes -- 2 What people say about smartphones -- The state and the media -- Citizenship and consensus -- Commerce: the smartphone and app industries -- People's discourse and ambivalence -- The unambivalent -- Fake news -- Academic studies of these discourses -- Conclusion -- Notes -- 3 The smartphone in context -- Smartphones as objects -- Smartphones and status -- The cost of smartphones -- Problems of access -- Screen Ecology -- Social Ecology -- Networks -- Conclusion -- Notes -- 4 From apps to everyday life -- Introduction: not starting with apps -- The app interviews -- Scalable Solutionism -- How the world changed the app -- Health beyond solutionism -- Apps and screens -- Where do apps come from? -- Conclusion -- Notes -- 5 Perpetual Opportunism -- Opportunistic photography -- Maps/movement/travel -- News and information -- Audio entertainment -- Conclusion -- Notes -- 6 Crafting -- Crafting: the artisanal transformation of smartphones and lives -- Crafting the individual -- Relationships -- Religion -- Cultural norms -- Conclusion -- Notes -- 7 Age and smartphones -- Youth and intergenerational relationships -- How smartphones make people younger -- Teaching and learning smartphone skills -- Specialist apps and devices
• Problems and benefits associated with smartphones -- Conclusion -- Notes -- 8 The heart of the smartphone: LINE, WeChat and WhatsApp -- A brief history -- The visual expression of emotions and care -- The transformation of family -- From family to community -- WhatsApp and religion -- The useful app -- Commerce and corporations -- Conclusion -- Notes -- 9 General and theoretical reflections -- Introduction -- The Transportal Home -- Beyond the anthropomorphic machine -- The Relational Smartphone -- Contradiction and ambivalence -- Surveillance -- Care -- Ideology, privacy and the fine line between care and surveillance -- Conclusion: 'smart from below' -- Notes -- Appendix: methodology and content -- The context -- Ethnography -- Comparison and generalisation -- Ethics -- Dissemination -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index -- Back Cover