Observing the Social Life of Today’s Adolechnic Tools Used, Rituals Invented, Places Visited, Spaces Created, Worlds Inhabited Todd Joseph Miles Holden Tohoku University Why this Paper There was an open slot on the program We have had a lot of talk about “Japanese youth” this weekend • But less focus on Japanese adolescents I have engaged in grounded theory of cell phone use before • Particularly with regard to deai-kei sites Why this Paper This time, I wanted an excuse to: • do some ethnography • think about mediation • And “sociation” as it relates to a social group that is largely ignored in discussions of this particular technology in Japan • And how this links to issues of ritual Well, that was the first open slot I started writing this paper for • Then “Space” Which was the second open slot And so… here it is My ethnography found that those I observed use their keitai… as an artistic tool A way of surveilling the environment A Way of Communicating with Friends カッコイイと思わない？！ (Don’t you think this guy is handsome?!) この人 だいーーーー 好きいいいいいいいい！！！！ (I just love him sooooooo much!!!!) Also as a Way of Ritualizing Social Contacts • In the sociological (i.e. utilitarian) sense Regularized pattern of interaction/conducting daily life • Thereby making community ties stronger >「 かわいいでしよ。(^_^) 」 -- mail from a friend (with an attached photo of the family pet Through this I discovered what I will call “The Adolechnic” About the User: The Adolechnic Characteristics of the Adolechnic: • Young (pre- and early-) teens • Savvy in the way of machines Primed in their early years on Role Playing Games • Comfortable with the concepts of: Exploring uncharted, deep, hidden spaces • And employing their tools and expeditionary activities to remake, if not create new worlds The Adolechnic: • An inventor of worlds • Uses Technology positively, without trouble or quandary as an instrument of creation • Seeks information (from instruction manuals): without frustration; with a patience that exceeds most other tasks in their lives; with an optimistic demeanor; with curiosity; with clear goals in mind; with concrete results In Short Unlike some writings about keitai use and modern tools of communication • I found keitai to be highly integrative Connective to others • As opposed to studies which have seen them as privatizing or “interiorizing” (e.g. McVeigh 2003) • And articulating with… and reproductive of… the logics and “systems” of society: • Economic • Political • Cultural In Short When keitai connects, however, it does so in non-space • For the most part keitai does not bring speakers together physically • Except in cases where the surrounding situation is specified, the speakers/writers remain in their own worlds • They do not transport themselves into their partner’s space • Nor do they meet in any mediate, or remote “third place” First Things First: About the Observation Who I observed: • My children 14 year old girl (Maya) 13 year old boy (Alex) What I observed: • Their first days using two cell phones we bought for the family This included (some) access to their actual messages • Provided with their approval • The pictures that they took and shared with friends How I observed: • Non-structured, non-scheduled questions and answers • Viewing their behavior with the machines in the flow of their daily lives About the Observation Where I observed: • • • • At In In In home my office the car public places (such as restaurants) When I observed: • On the way to and from activities such as ballet, piano lessons, soccer and school • As the children took unscheduled breaks from homework • Before and after dinner • Prior to their taking baths • Just before they went to sleep • During their visits to my workplace • On family holiday First Encounters: Preorganized activities As soon as we bought the phones: • In the car, on the ride home, the boxes were open and the kids were already working the buttons on the phones Gender Differences? My son tried to do everything without a manual My daughter was more interested in going through the booklet step-by-step • Or Age Difference? • Or simple individual differences? External Guidance After a short period of uncoordinated individual activity (with each working with one phone), they agreed to move systematically through the steps together • Those steps they thought they could do without consulting the book, they did; when they hit a roadblock, they referred to the manual. • Eventually (in the week to come), they relied more and more on the manual as they finetuned and personalized their machines. Expert Guidance They also received (limited) assistance from “credible sources” • Experts (by virtue of prior experience): an older cousin or friends who already possessed keitais Next Encounters: Organized Behavior Working to understand the machine Personalizing it Routinizing it Step 1: Personalizing the Machine In the early stages of keitai possession, a lot of activity is centered around personalization; • around making the tool one’s own. For the Adolechnic, this is not much different than the pre-adventure activities involved in setting up a Role Playing Game (RPG). Examples of Entry-level Personalization Getting all the sounds/tones squared away • Sounds for turning on and off the phone • Sounds for mail arrival and departure • Sounds for in-coming phone calls Working through Presets that included: • Gershwin, Donald Duck quacks, J-Pop and a set of Outer Spacey pings and plucks Next Steps Then accessing sound sites for downloads: • Both paid and free services • Connecting this aspect of contemporary social life to both: The Economic and the Cultural As well as the Global and the Local The Economic and the Cultural Accessing the pre-set functions on the keitai (“EZ-Web”), Alex quickly found a category called “Get Sounds, Pictures” Within this site there was a large number of sites for downloading: Songs Movies Melodies Screen shots Photo albums Voice Sounds Karaoke videos, films, photos The Economic and the Cultural (Being stingy)… we clicked into the Free download sites The categories included: Pop Music Anime Famous/Hit Song Covers • Including “Classics” and Beatles Hit Hot Indies The Local The local “Classics” that can be downloaded include: • Spitz: “Robinson” • Southern All Stars: “Ai no Kotaba” • Oda Kazumasa: “Love Story wa Totsuzen Ni” The Global Among the global “Classics” that can be downloaded, are: • Queen: “We Are the Champions” • Bruce Springsteen: “Born in the USA” • Gloria Gaynor: “I Will Survive” Creating an Identity: The E-mail Name To work with mail, a handle is necessary And.. apparently, names are important • This I discovered when I found myself having to create a name for the red phone – which basically was for my wife and daughter. • Neither being available at the time, it was left to me to christen the phone. • I dubbed it “[email protected]” • My daughter, appalled at the idea that this would become her handle to all who knew her for all eternity renamed it: “[email protected]” Making an E-mail Name My son was less particular. He was fine with the handle [email protected] Although we did debate a bit who got to be Buggs and who was Daffy Next Task: Making A Screen Design After shooting some pictures and saving them, Maya decided to place one on her screen Then Alex followed suit Playing with Design They not only shot pictures, but enjoyed using preset “purikura”-like decals and stickers along the side. • This is one (but not the only) example of personalizing of the device; of rendering it distinct and their own. In Sum: Personalization transforms the keitai into one’s • It relates to issues of identity, as we will discuss later Step 2: Routinizing the Machine And then the next step was to actually begin communicating with others • For both kids, this begin by declaring they had a phone: Carrying the phone to school or ballet Letting their friends see (or know) that they had a keitai Then exchanging mail addresses (mainly) • Since these (Holden) kids were almost the last of their cohort to have a phone In the first 2 weeks communications averaged no more than 3 a day. Theorizing from Observations Developing a Relationship with the Technology Personalizing the Machine The Question of Interiorization The Realities of Societal Integration • • • • • Socialization Ritual Sociation Economic System reproduction Cultural reproduction The Matter of Status The Question of Place • The reality of non-space Theorizing from Observations Developing a Relationship with the Technology • Pushing Buttons Learning how to • Reading the Manual Theorizing from Observations Personalizing the Machine 1. Mastering the Technology 2. Buying Accessories (straps, coins, stickers) In this case during a trip to Disneyland: • Chip and Dale coin and a Tigger strap (for the red phone) • Pooh coin and a Mickey/Fantasia strap (for the silver phone) The next day buying (Disney) stickers at a department store to decorate the outside of the phone 3. Snapping pictures to place on the window of the camera Theorizing from Observations Personalizing the Machine 1. The Result: A prized stuffed animal for my daughter An object located in my office by my son Theorizing from Observations Personalizing the Machine • Accessories • Stickers • Screen Photos Theorizing from Observations Interiorizing? Of course, the buzz from McVeigh (2003) was the notion of an inward turn: of privatization and “interiority”… Or Externalizing? •But, like my work on deai revealed, keitai use seems to suggest high sociability. From one friend to another… かわいいでしよ。(^_^) Externalizing: Creating social groups We can talk about New User’s Behavior as: “Net-Working” • An active activity Intentionally creating a social network Pulling others into a relational web • Technology’s role as a tool for creation While it may not seem an act of originality (since all the technology is pre-set) there are options that can be personalized which: • Brings a world into existence • Re-molds that world in accord with one’s own particular tastes and ways of seeing Theorizing from Observations Externalizing: • Beyond the creation of social groups… • There is the Connection to a (Macro) Economic System that keitais afford • Beyond that, consumers are delivered into the embrace of a larger cultural system As Users, Legitimators, Accepters Theorizing from Observations Separating “Worlds” Ex: my daughter has folders of “Family”, “School”, “Ballet” In some cases (e.g. school and ballet) these can overlap For the most part, though, these are distinct Theorizing from Observations Connecting to Others Collecting mail numbers Reproducing ties (daily) “メールちょだいね” (“Send me mail, ok?”) - From my daughter’s ballet friend • 4/11/04, 17:32 -- 今、仙台駅のバス停（6番）だよ (Now I’m at Sendai Station (at position 6)” • 4/11/04, 17:44 -- 今、帰るとこだよ (”Now I’m going home…”) バスの中だよ (“I’m on the bus.”) - From my son’s school mate • Theorizing from Observations Personalizing the Machine • Accessories • Stickers • Screen Photos Interiorizing? Or Externalizing • Connecting to a (Macro) Economic System • Separating “Worlds” Ex: my daughter has folders of “Family”, “School”, “Ballet” • Connecting to Others Collecting mail numbers Reproducing ties (daily) Theorizing from Observations Societal Integration • Learning about a culture • Being socializing into the logics and rhythms of that culture And (of course) Communication: The keitai is a communication tool It enables all sorts of communication, though: • • • • • Extrapersonal (between machines) Intrapersonal (within oneself) Interpersonal (between people) Group (amongst and between many people) Mass (a large scale group – often an audience receiving similar messages from a single communication source) Extrapersonal Communication: In the linkage of these cell phones with networks of other phones or computers to conduct tasks For instance, in order to place the photos used in this presentation into these PowerPoint pages, they had to be delivered from keitai to my PC (via e-mail), then downloaded into the hard drive of my PC, then uploaded into this presentation, then “broadcast” through this computer, through that projector, onto the screen. And (of course) Communication: Intrapersonal: in the downloading of images or songs or data to feed one’s brain or private world Intrapersonal Communication: • in the downloading of images or songs or data to feed one’s brain or private world My daughter’s obsession with Orlando Bloom who she photographs (copiously) from a fan magazine and then loads into the keitai’s photo album for (constant) viewing pleasure As well as one shot of her brother A Girl’s Inner World The Orlando Bloom Example But how Intrapersonal is this? In addition, this image is a direct form of communication • It implies: • interaction • exchange, and Linkages to the larger world of commerce and (global) popular culture • is rooted in a space and time beyond the image consumer. A Girl’s Outer World Communicating with a Father “These are the !!! Orlando Bloom is sooooo HOT ・・・ Well, gtg! love maya Interpersonal Communication: • in the connection between two users よう元気 あのさ 携帯の番号教えてちょうだ い。 膝の怪我が完治するまで無理するなよ。 アレックス （Hey Genki [friend’s name]: well, give me your cell phone number. Until your injured knee completely recovers, don’t do the impossible. Alex) Group Communication: in the linking of users into chains or networks of affiliated people Of course, in serial sets of interactions • Example: … PS 二年のすがわらこうへい君をヨロシク（笑 [Second year’s Sugawara Kouhei-kun sends regards (laugh ] Mass Communication: In the transmission of content from an institutional source to a mass audience • as in the case of downloadable songs, screen images, icons, and various fixed economic services • Here the content transmitted is mostly cultural material: From popular cultural songs, movies stills, and news Via the culturally reproductive instruments of language and symbols Uses and Purposes Communication theory suggests that communication has at least 5 ends: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Socialization Social ritual Instrumental Persuasive Expressive Socialization The acquisition of values, roles and norms through: 1. Upbringing 2. Linguistic mediation of culture 3. Group and Institutional Practices Socialization: example When my son’s friend writes: 教会にいる人で東北学院中学校の二年生がいるよ イニシャルはたぶんーＫ．Ｓだと思う。 (Someone from my church is a second year Junior high student at Tohoku Gakuin [their new school]… His initials are perhaps “K.S.”, I think.) We get a sense of: • • Status (sempai/kohai), As well as institutional structures of Church and School Obviously, the communication is not aimed at socializing, but reflects structures and employs language that is. Social Ritual Defined: Aims at establishing psychological unity in a group • Creates affiliation; binds members Example: (from a friend the second day of a new school year at a new school): サンダーも二日目だから気合いをいれて頑張れ (It’s also Sanda—’s second day, so do your best with spirit/fight) Social Ritual: “Phatic” Uses Defined: Ordinary exchanges whose function is as reinforcement of social contact and social status Example 1: 今、帰りとこだよ バスの中だよ (Now I’m heading home I’m on the bus ) Example 2: Maya spends 1 to 2 hours after ballet “decompressing” with friends • • From 10:00 p.m. to Midnight Constant routing and rerouting of mail messages which rehash the events of the practice… Who got in trouble What the sensei said (how “kibishii” or “hidoi” he might have been) The girls’ body condition What tomorrow’s practice will be like For example: this exchange of emails with a fellow dancer ヤッホー(star icon)自習お疲れ様(heart icon)明日も 頑張ろうね！ あのさ…発表会まで頑張って痩せようネ(3 biceps flexing icon)まぁ、ボンちゃんは痩せてるから…だって40 ㎏ないんでしょ！！だったらいいよ。私なんか …☆○◇▽△□∋→㎏だもん3 face icons) (knife and fork icon)とかどうしてるの？あとさ、脚が 細くなる方法とか知ってる？知ってたら教えてネ(tear drop icon) では！長くなってゴメンネ・じゃ、バイバ～イ (shooting star icon) This mail prompted by the (usual) criticisms by the ballet teacher that the girls are too fat; that they have to lose weight before the big performance. Maya praises her friend who not only is a great dancer but thin. And Maya wonders whether the friend has tips for losing size in her legs. Social Rituals, Information Exchange and Friendly Bonds >メールありがとう(heart icon)40㎏については、あったりする事があるので、やはりマ ズイです・・・目標は、身長をあと2㎝伸ばして、その時の体重を、40㎏にする(face icon) >足痩せは、うちも悩んでるよぉ(face icon)本当に足痩せないしぃ(crying face icon) >マッサージするとかしか…・それと、体質的に、足は最後に細くなるらしいし…(tear icon)でも、がんばろー(peace sign icon)お互いに、目標を立てて、それを達成させよ うね(2 exclamation point icons) >背伸ばす方法知ってる(exclamation mark and question mark icon)背伸び ないよぉ(crying face) After thanking her for the mail (a social ritual) the friend employs the polite form of refusing a compliment and faulting herself (another ritualistic faction). •For instance, she says that her weight goes above and below 40kg •Then she says that given her aim of growing 2 more centimeters then 40 kg would be a good weight. •She says “I also worry about my leg thickness. Truly, it doesn’t get thinner…” • “Doing massage and… physically (given her physical characteristics) the legs are the last to get thinner. But let’s do our best. Both of us should make a goal to reach. •”Do you know the way to get taller? I can’t grow taller.” まぁー…体重はさ、先生も言ってたけどめやすだから㎝を減 らすことを目標に私はするネ・・・ 身長を伸ばす方法 は…やっぱりカルシウムを沢山とることかな(question mark icon) 特に (moon icon) は成長ホルモンがで るからさ (star icon) 私はまず160㎝を目指して頑張る けど、165㎝理想なんだよネ(heart mark icon) では！…確か脚痩せの方法が載ってる雑誌のコピーが あったはずなんだよネ (tear drop icon) 見つけたらコ ピーする？ じゃ、バイバ～イ・ Maya then gives advice about drinking calcium as a strategy for growing taller. Because the growth hormone comes out at night (she drinks calcium at night). her aim is 160 centimeters, but 165 is the ideal height. Maya thought she had an exercise print regarding reducing leg thickness. “If I find it, do you want a copy?” For example: this exchange of 2 sets of e-mails (back and forth) >付録、届かなかったぁ…(cat icon)写真かな？見たかった よぉ(cat icon)足痩せの雑誌のコピー、是非是非見つかっ たら下さい(cat icon)うちも、何か見つけたら、お知らせし まぅす(3 hamster icons) (If you find that leg writing, by all means, by all means, please send it) >(chicken hatching icon)メール、ありがとうでしたぁ (chicken hatching icon)明日は実力テストなんだ (cactus icons)最悪だぁ(devil mask icon)では (hand waving icons) Thanks for the mail. Ah, tomorrow is our level check test (at the beginning of school). It’s gonna be hell… Instrumental The aim of communication is to achieve a particular end • Framing a message with a conscious message in mind Instrumental: Example Mail from Maya: “hi,dad. how's your/was your meating we are at royal host and we are ordering well,we are waiting for you love maya Expressive Defined: representation of personal or aesthetic feelings Linked with the idea of creativity Emotional, rather than cognitive “hi,dad.how's your/was your meating (big blue question mark) we are at royal host and we are ordering (fird egg in a pan) well,we are waiting for you (cat meowing) love maya (pink heart) Expressive Example: in the Royal Host mail (above) -- as in all her mail -- Maya employs icons/emoticons. “hi,dad. how's your/was your meating we are at royal host and we are ordering well,we are waiting for you love maya Persuasive Defined: structures which are used to manipulate the actions or cognitions of others Cases: Whether it is because: I have such angelic kids, or because they are new to the technology, or because 13 and 14 year olds don’t engage in this form of communication (????? – right!)… there were no examples of this sort of keitai use in the communication I observed. (Whew!… a parent breathes a sigh of relief). On Tools and Pleasure I used the word “pleasure” earlier and this has been a theme of (popular) cultural studies • Dating back to John Fiske (1989) • Which recognizes that those who engage in the consumption of popular culture may be caught in social/economic/political “spaces” that are hegemonic and repressive Viewed negatively, they have been said to be “grounded in the privatized discourse of commodified desire” (Goldman 1992:14) • However, they have also been asserted to be “cultural producers and cultural respondents to the social milieu” (Lewis 1992:6). Keitai and Space Because we are in the panel on Japan’s “diverse spaces” I want to say at least a few words about keitai’s relation to place. • Because (in fact) there is little of space that I find here. Sure, the kids explore in non-physical realms But the worlds that they deal in have physical references. The media they use only work to continue and reconfirm the worlds that they actually are operating in daily. So there is little that moves in the constructed, artificial or hyperreal. No Sense of Space? Meyerowitz (1986) has spoken about how electronic media change the “situational geography of social life.” • He did not mean only that boundaries are spanned (a la Morley and Robbins, 1995) • He meant that media work to de-place or dis-place life • In this sense, not unlike Postman’s claim that media provide “no sense of place”, they also create “no sense of space” Keitai and Space And in checking with my informants I discovered this version of space/place… • Maya, for instance, said: “when I do mail, I just am talking with that person…” • Q: “Well are you ‘talking’ with them… I mean do you hear their voice?” • A: “No.” • Q: When they’re talking to you, where are they? In the studio or in school – I mean in your mind… when you write to them?” • A: “No. I don’t see them in those places. They are just … out there.” • Q: “And you don’t see where they are? Don’t imagine them in a place.” • A: “Right.” • Q: “ Do you imagine their face or see the clothes they are wearing?” • A: “No. not really. Not at all.” Keitai and Identity Morley and Robins (1995:172) suggest that, in the West, Japanese identity has become associated with the technologies of the future: screens, networks, robotics, artificial intelligence, simulation. • They meant this in terms of a rampant racism that has grown seeing Japanese as cold, rational, calculating, unfeeling, barbarian Keitai and Identity But, in fact, technology is a part of all modern identities in post-industrial societies: For the two Adolechnics I observed – who happen to be Japanese – their identity appears (still) to be well independent of the technology But it would not be strange to posit that use of and facility with the technology would redound to images of self and placement of themselves out in a larger social world. The Matter of Status Question: “How do you feel when you hold the keitai?” Maya: “Good.” Question: “Like it’s kakko-ii?” Maya: “Yeah. And… I don’t know… Different. I like how it feels to hold it.” The Matter of Status Certainly, Identity in contemporary life is wrapped up (to some degree) in the acquisition of things. • Here dimensions of class, capitalism, materialism and consumption are implicated • Shiny, dazzling, relatively expensive (for a child) tools are a measure of status They also communicate (of themselves, naturally, but also by their use) a measure of skill, of power and freedom out in the world. • For an adolescent keitais send messages of adultness and efficacy Keitai and Mediated Identity Which leads me to wonder whether changes in theorization of mediated identity are necessary… In other work (2003) I have advanced the concept of “Mediated Identity”. It is composed of: • Interactions • In and through Institutions • And involving: Significations Conveyed through representations of sameness and difference By media And brought into relief by • References to socially-constructed group traits, and • The depiction of relationship(s) between individuals and/or groups Keitai and Mediated Identity But this is a definition about generally passive consumers of technology It is not a definition that speaks of active users Thus we could speak of mediated identity of adolechnics as: • Interactions • Within and through Media • And involving: Significations Conveyed through representations of sameness and difference By users And brought into relief by • (Their own) references to socially-constructed group traits, and • Their depiction of relationship(s) between themselves and/or groups
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