The Goldilocks effect

                                                

I stare at my computer with my phone in my peripheral; it is on silent but will courteously buzz when it requires attention. No matter where I am that soft vibration will distract me, like an arm or a leg, it is always at my side.

I cannot help but sense the irony in theorist Donna Haraway’s fascination, that one-day humans would be a part of everyday technology- a cyborg- she refers it (Penley, C & Ross, A 1990). While it is not a physical part of my being, physiologically it would feel as though I were missing a limb if I did not have it. While, in my opinion, Haraway’s theory was crass, she inspired me to conduct a mini experiment and go a day without my mobile.

From the moment I woke up that morning I felt naked and anxious without my phone. I spent the day with a knot in my stomach, wondering what everyone else was doing. It was not that something bad may have happened and no one could contact me that worried me, it was that I was not tuned in with all my friends. My mobile is my ‘social’ security blanket; I have become so self-obsessed with knowing people’s whereabouts that I have lost sight of myself. I felt like nobody because there was nobody to connect with, I've lost the ability to be alone.

Theorist Sherry Turkle discusses a process called ‘The Goldilocks’ Effect’; the idea of being not to close but not to far from one another. When we loose connection we panic, become anxious and fidget; all things I experienced during my experiment. She further contextualises this by stating “I share therefore I am” the idea that we use technology to define ourselves, share our feelings and stay in touch. (TED, 2012)

When I first listened to her video I thought this statement was an over exaggeration, but my opinion changed after having my phone stripped from me for a day and the feelings of anxiety I experienced. I did not feel like a ‘whole’ being because no one knew what I was feeling. It is like that age old question ‘if a tree falls in a forest but there’s no one there to hear it, did it make a sound?’ We have become so consumed in technology and sharing that we have lost sight of ourselves. Yes, the tree made a sound just because no one was there to hear it, it will still make an impact. This metaphor is now a way of life, do we still make an impact when we are not connected and there is nobody there to hear us?

Technology will only develop further and new trends and social media platforms will be created. After this week I have a confession; I am a living, breathing cyborg. I am not proud yet I am no longer naïve,  my mobile device is a part of my being.

Reference: 

mobiledevices.jpg 2009 [ONLINE] <http://www.google.com.au/search?num=10&hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1280&bih=625&q=mobile+obsession&oq=mobile+obsession&gs_l=img.3..0i24j0i5i24.20071.24351.0.24573.16.15.0.1.1.0.228.1333.1j5j2.8.0...0.0...1ac.1.Q-7Bxn1NTFw#hl=en&tbo=d&site=imghp&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=mobile+device&oq=mobile+device&gs_l=img.3..0l10.16760.18654.2.18755.13.11.0.2.2.0.227.2084.0j10j1.11.0...0.0...1c.1.42AjrkwOc4E&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.r_qf.&fp=e915e9dc76db3059&bpcl=39314241&biw=1280&bih=625>

Penley, C & Ross, A 1990, Cyborgs at large: Interview with Donna Haraway, Vol. 25 no. 26, pp. 8-23

Sherry Turkle: Connected but alone? 2012, online video, TED,  US, viewed 30 november 2012 <http://www.ted.com/talks/sherry_turkle_alone_together.html>