Does commercial or government mediation affect the way we communicate?

Like most events in our day-to-day lives, the way we communicate today is tinted through interventionist government and profit-seeking capitalists. Like most events in our day-to-day lives, we don't really care. We shouldn't care. The youth of today seem oblivious and adults willingly deem it irrelevant. The future holds more of the same, and maybe that is a good thing. We do not feel a need to communicate through modern mediums; we want to.

The mediums through which the products of communication are consumed seem unimportant to today's youth. For Scott Cambell and Yong Jin Park, this mobile youth culture persists through a desire for enhanced personal autonomy. Thoughts of bourgeoisie exploitation and government surveillance generally fail to sway fledgling consumers. My classmate Hana places a strong emphasis on the theme of convenience. Along a similar argument, another classmate, Christian, notes how quickly mobile devices have shifted from luxuries to necessities. Cambell and Park believe that mobile communication devices help configure momentous social development in the lives of youth today. These devices procure a kind of identity formation that might otherwise be unattainable. The ways in which they are used or exploited simply do not matter.

For those of us who are aware of the activities of both government and commercial interests in the industry, we should think the same way. The consumption of mobile communication devices is no different than the consumption of other topical commodities. As Gerard Goggin outlines, we are subject to the wills of major transnational global mobile media corporations who premise their models on the dominant interest of commercial industry. Like the consumption of most other commodities, we as consumers have little say in the end product. Yes, transnational corporations conduct the necessary market research and apply the same value-added activities as they have always attempted to do, all in the name of pleasing the consumer. Yet, with the aptly-advertised consumer choice models, we are led to believe that we have control in the production of mobile devices. We do not. What we do have control of is how we use these devices and all that comes with them.

What I have stated before, will continue to state, and what Fabio Josgrilberg echoes is that: what one does with a mobile phone is not separated from how he or she projects him or herself in life. Multiple dimensions of communication now exist and pervade our lives everyday, but it is ultimately how we use these dimensions and what we do with them that showcases how we really feel. Action is character. Everyday we see hundreds of fellow consumers buried in their cell phones, tablets, and laptops. Do they seem to care about commercial or government mediation in their efforts to communicate? Of course not. What people say or think is different from what they do. You may know someone who boycotts products sold by a certain company because of exploitative practices in their factories in Cambodia. You may even do so yourself. Good for you. You are not the majority. For the majority, the corporation is king. For our industry, developers are king and will continue to be for the foreseeable future.

Developers hold the culture of the future in the palms of their hands, passing it into the palms of ours. Using Apple as the preeminent example, Goggin calls these developers cultural intermediaries, stating that: in its consumption, the iPhone sees the mobile phone take on more and quite novel everyday uses. Important to Goggin and important to the future is the developing market for applications. The developers of applications, or "apps", are emerging as key players in an ever-evolving industry. Apps allow us to track nearly everything we do and with more ease than ever before. They allow us to do the things we want faster, easier, and more inclusively. Like any other market, the market for apps is subject to the laws of supply and demand. It searches for profit first, community interest second. We know this. These commercial interests do not and should not reduce or restrict our consumption of communication devices.

My classmate Raymond showcases an inquisitiveness as to what the future of mobile devices will hold. My answer is that the future will contain more of the present. The technology will change. It will adapt to holding bigger, more powerful devices embodied in smaller, more convenient mediums. We will be able to do more in less time and with less effort. Yet, the way we think about mobile devices and services will remain the same. We will continue to turn a blind eye to commercial or government mediation, disallowing any effect on the way we use these devices. Freedom has its price; at least we are free. We do not need to communicate, we want to.

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