“Handsome devils: mobile imagings of youth culture” by Kate Crawford and Gerald Goggin (2008) caught my attention because of the reference to Roland Barthes’ (1973) text "Mythologies." Barthes examined in detail myth as a semiological system and how social imaginaries represent the hallmarks of a certain type of social group. There is synergy between the views of Barthes, a twentieth century ‘mythbuster,’ and those of the authors writing about mobile phone culture in the twenty first century and analysing advertising myths.
The article considers the ways in which Australian youth have been engaged to mobile phone culture and the implications and ramifications that might follow. The authors suggest that there are “two myths of mobiles – disconnection and hyperconnection” (Goggin & Crawford, 2008,p. 3). These myths have been around since the twentieth century but the technologies have converged resulting in a subject wired into social existence through technology, “a tethered self” (Turkle, 1995).
A powerful and evocative image of a body shackled in chains with a mobile phone hanging around a neck accompanying the article conveys the conflict at issue. The image can convey multiple interpretations. On the one hand the authors observe the disconnection with “fear of social decay through isolation of the individual” and on the other hand, manifests as “fear of inescapable hyperconnection” (Goggin & Crawford 2008,p.8). Link to this article is http://www.commarts.uws.edu.au/gmjau/iss1_2008/crawford_goggin.html
Myth busting is the object of the article and the authors postulate that the media sensationalises both the “seductive and destructive mobile imaginaries” for reasons best known unto itself. Roland Barthes recognized similar discourses being constructed to reinforce “bourgeois ideology” (Barthes, 1973, p.143).
Popular culture is actively produced and consumed in a capitalist society (Goggin, 2006). In the twenty first century established telecommunication companies offer delivery of a proliferation of 'ever new' information, multimedia, applications and email to mobile devices. The convergence and “blurring of industry boundaries” such as entertainment, lifestyle products and communication have resulted in the "commodification of new geographical spaces" with the digital economy "penetrating more into intimate domains of personal life”. (May & Hearn 2005:p.166)"
The individualistic nature of mobile interactions within youth cultures “shifts boundaries from the personal and the public” (Goggin & Crawford, 2008, p. 1) and the authors sought to find out about the notions of youth as a “highly individualized cohort” and embark on a three year national study by the Australian Research Council commencing in 2008: “Young, Mobile, Networked: Mobile Media and Youth Culture in Australia.”
From an educational context, I would argue that such a study can benefit school organizations because mobile media use in the classroom is inevitable. Despite institutional resistance evidenced by restrictions on the use of mobile phones and protected online environments such as "The Learning Place" (The State of Queensland, 2010). This is evidenced by Education Queensland currently offering professional development on the use of iPads with literacy and numeracy development.
The authors show that the mass media representations of mobile media are bound up with individualistic interpretations of youth culture. Teachers already employ media education and critique advertising with their students and are updating their new digital media knowledge. The convergence of media and cultural industries are evolving and require a current study of practices so that educators can better understand how to cater for their “always on” students (Baron, 2008).
A great deal of advertising is directed at young people and is embedded in their popular culture (Evans 2005). Mass media texts, including advertising reflect certain values even when they appear to be neutral (Giroux, 1999). Such texts can influence people’s thinking and this requires students to interrogate commercialism in their environment, including popular culture such as mobile media.
Students engage in multiple forms of media and this has not translated to wide scale pedagogical changes in the teaching of literacy. We are on the cusp of change and it is reasonable for educators to consider ways to help students develop the skills required to read and write using multiple text and media forms (Lankshear & Knobel, 2006). Researchers such as Goggin & Crawford (2008) can contribute some current insights into teaching critical media literacy within the field of cultural studies. This can ensure that educators can scaffold students’ learning as they explore and analyse multiple forms of texts and mobile convergent technologies.
The “social imaginaries” that Goggin & Crawford (2008) refer to can be exemplified by their analysis of advertisements in the article and this analysis can be replicated in the classroom context. Advertisements and other forms of mass media offer great potential for teachers and students to “unpack layers of textual meaning” (Luke, O’Brien & Comber, 2001). They can then question the relations of power and knowledge, (the 'bourgeois ideology'), inherent in these texts. Teachers can foster critical literacy of students and can invite an interrogation of consumer messages found in today’s society. One can disengage from negative aspects of advertising messages and ‘hyperconnect’ to information that is required to benefit one's life experience.
I accept that social theorists gauge youth subcultures as a signifier of current social debates and that the accompanying negativity of “brave new world to bad new future” (May & Hearn 2005) has been with us as new technologies have evolved. The history of moral panics “operate by marking out and stigmatising certain groups of users” (Goggin & Crawford, 2008, p. 2) and creating social anxiety. Young adults are becoming more aware and therefore 'liberated' from the targeted commercialism of the media corporations as a result of the teaching of critical literacy skills. Current research has found that youth cultures are savvy to consumer traps from telecommunications providers. Following on from their 2008 article, Goggin & Crawford (2010) find in the first part of their qualitative study that respondents had chosen not to use social media or other mobile Internet devices “for fear of the cost implications” (Goggin & Crawford, 2010, p.15). The researchers dispel the myth of youth being the first to adopt new technologies and introduce the notion of "mobile phone class politics" whereby owners of iPhones are seen as "spoiled" or elitist and that nineteen eighties Nokias are "retro" and fashionable.
The notion of people being 'shackled' to technology is evidenced by the study that revealed youth in the demographic between 18-30, could not disengage with the portable nature of mobile technology. Some respondents from the study slept with their switched on mobile devices and one respondent became anxious when asked to switch off their mobile phone and could not comprehend the reason for disengaging with their device whilst flying in an aeroplane (Goggin & Crawford, 2010, p15).
Current research has demonstrated that youth cultures could be 'shackled' or 'liberated' by mobile technology and that a high percentage of youth employ critical awareness to make the most out of the advantages that new digital technologies can offer while some of the demographic exhibit psychological dependency on technology. Given that mobile communication has “subscriptions set to cross the five billion mark in 2010” it can be anticipated that mobile devices will be part of the education curriculum and that educators can continue to do their good work by arming their students with knowledge and critical new media literacy (Goggin & Crawford, 2010, p. 3).
References
Barthes, R. (1973). Mythologies Granada Publishing Limited. London, UK.
Baron, N. (2008). Always On: Language in an Online and Mobile World Oxford University New York, USA
Crawford, K. & Goggin G. (2008). Handsome Devils: Mobile imaginings of youth culture Global Media Journal Australian Edition Volume 1/1 University of New South Wales, Australia.
Crawford, K & Goggin G. (2010). Movable Type: Findings from the Young, Mobile, Networked Study (DP0877530) of which this paper is an output. Australian Research Council for the Discovery Grant. (Thanks to Professor Gerard Goggin for sharing the first part of their qualitative findings from e-mail contact on 10-10-10).
Evans, J. (2005). Literacy moves on: Popular culture, new technologies, and critical literacy in the elementary classroom. Heinemann New Hampshire, USA.
Giroux, H. (1999). The mouse that roared: Disney and the end of innocence. Rowman & Littlefield. Colorado, USA.
Goggin, G 2006 Cell Phone Culture: Mobile technology in everyday life Routledge, Oxon, UK.
Lankshear, C. & Knoble, M. (2006). New literacies of online reading comprehension. The New England Reading Association Journal, 43 (1), pp. 1-7.
Luke, A, O'Brien, J, & Comber, B. (2001). Making community texts objects of study. In Fehring, H. & Green, P. (Eds), Critical literacy: A collection of articles from the Australian Literacy Educators Association. pp. 112-123.
May, H & Hearn, G. (2005). The mobile phone as media International Journal of Cultural Studies. SAGE Publications, London, UK. Volume 8. (2) pp. 195-211 Downloaded from ics.sagepub.com at Queensland University of Technology on September 20, 2010.
The State of Queensland. (2010) The Learning Place Education Queensland http://education.qld.gov.au/learningplace/ Retrieved on 06-10-10.
Turkle, S. (1995). Life On The Screen: Identity In The Age Of The Internet Touchstone Books. New York, USA.
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