IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Winter 2013 - 36

he permeation of the
mobile platform is creating a shift in community behavior. What
began with a few individuals, has now quickly replicated
as many people communicate not
only through mobile phones, but
through smartphones that are
multi-functioning communications
computers. Mobile devices have
broadened people's capability and
reach, and within that context, people have adapted their behavior to
adjust to communications "on the
go." In this article we explore how
multiplexed networked individuated communications are creating
new contexts for human behavior
within communities, particularly
noting the shift from synchronous
to asynchronous communication as
an adaptation.
The introduction of mobile
devices can change communities
through opportunities for time shifting via asynchronous communication. People can coordinate more
activities, manage things remotely
that used to be done only at home or
the office, and do things that they are
required to do online from anywhere

To save costs, many stores offer the
option of using automated checkouts,
and some people seem to be taking
advantage of using them to carry on
their conversations without having
to heed to conventional social cues.
People can enter a store while on a
phone, shop and check out, all while
carrying on a conversation with others who could be halfway around
the world. Some people do not use
the automated checkouts, but still
practice similar behavior with clerks,
who may also practice similar behavior with customers.
Even time zones do not seem to
matter much. "Connected individuation" in communities refers to behavior that connects a person socially
while simultaneously isolating them
from their local spatial community.
Connected individuation is a subset of networked individuation [1],
though we do not see it as an entire
system that divides family and social
networks, but rather as a state of
being "always on" in an individualized, yet connected manner.
Mobile communications increase
complexity arising from managing more relationships on a pervasive and ubiquitous basis; not one

People can enter a store while on
a phone, shop, and check out, all
while carrying on a conversation
with others who could be halfway
around the world.
with an Internet connection. In part,
the time away from where people
are goes towards these tasks. In other
ways, people are able to maintain and
connect to those they care about (or
need to communicate with) as they
move around in their community.
Thus, the community increasingly
becomes a commodity for their consumption, rather than their principal social arena, as they require less
and less from the immediate local
community to serve social needs.
36

at a time, but in an interspersed and
interleaved manner, with people who
may not have knowledge of other
relationships being shuffled at the
same time, and who are managing
a similar portfolio of relationships
which may not intersect between
correspondents. Automation tools
and mobile contextual technology
enable people to multiplex activities
and roles in a denser and accelerated
manner. As more people use these
capabilities more options arise that

can change behavior, experience, and
composition of communities. Urban
areas have historically consisted of
people who did not necessarily know
each other. Urban users of mobile
technologies have expanded relations
with people they know but weaken
already tenuous local ties with neighbors, vendors, and service providers.
Some people appear to reorganize their use of time into a "justin-time" communications model,
using transition times to contact and
call others while waiting for people, things or services in the local
sphere. Evidence from psychological studies indicates diminishment
of attention while using cell phones.
In dealing with presence and a
locale, talking on a phone with two
or three or five different text conversations at the same time can cause
asynchronous attention to be spread
thinly. Perhaps part of the problem
is that although a phone conversation is synchronous, it is becoming a
part of an overall digital world-view
that is increasingly asynchronous.
Although generally people handle
a similar range of tasks, shifting
communications from being mostly
synchronous to an increasingly
asynchronous approach may imply
different skill sets for different
demographics in a community and
result in much more heterogeneity
across different communities.
We hypothesize that people are
adapting to new patterns of interaction and communication through
increasing asynchronicity within
all locales, local and otherwise.
Future adaptive strategies will have
to address the processing of communications across socially distributed organizations of people and
activities. However, it will require
time and coordination for widely
accessible adaptive strategies to
emerge that provide a benefit to
most individuals. While our argument initially poses asynchronicity
as an adaptation to life on the go, it
may be that the capacity for asynchronicity motivates the popularity
and distribution of the technology.

IEEE TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY MAGAZINE

WINTER 2013

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