Hi AoIRists, I've been asked by a local TV station to comment on a story they're doing titled "Techno Detox". They have one volunteer (so far) to engage in the following:
We are looking for individuals who are "addicted" to technology (iPod, cell phone, texting, email, facebook/myspace, etc) We would like to have those individuals tell us why they love their gadgets and then have them go cold turkey for a few days. We'll check in to see how they're doing and then wrap up at the end of the week as they are allowed to once again use those coveted items. Now, failure can also be part of the story. We just want people who are willing to give it an honest effort, and candidly tell us about their experience.
1. I know that someone(s) at AoIR in Brisbane mentioned a similar sort of process, but done (if memory serves - always a shaky assumption) as an academic study. If anyone on the list who was also at AoIR in Brisbane can remember this conversation - can you please contact me offlist with the details of the study? 2. I have a number of qualms about participating in the story as a local "expert" - but hope that by doing so I might be able to defuse some of the prevailing dichotomies that seem to shape reporting on media (beginning, in this instance, by using the disease model of addiction as the primary frame). Stated another way, I'm hoping to provide more informed and nuanced commentary that would help both the reporter and the audience move away from these sorts of notions of technology (good or bad? cure or disease? blessing or curse, etc.) - notions that fuel the sorts of "moral panic" reporting on new media (currently, e.g., connections between violent video games and recent episodes of violence in schools, etc.) So ... does anyone have good research relevant to these concerns and the phenomena in question that you would recommend as useful background reading as I prepare for the interview? Many thanks in advance - charles Distinguished Research Professor, Interdisciplinary Studies <http://www.drury.edu/gp21> Drury University 900 N. Benton Ave. Voice: 417-873-7230 Springfield, MO 65802 USA FAX: 417-873-7435 Home page: http://www.drury.edu/ess/ess.html Information Ethics Fellow, 2006-07, Center for Information Policy Research, School of Information Studies, UW-Milwaukee Co-chair, CATaC conferences <www.catacconference.org> Vice-President, Association of Internet Researchers <www.aoir.org> Professor II, Globalization and Applied Ethics Programmes <http://www.anvendtetikk.ntnu.no/pres/bridgingcultures.php> Exemplary persons seek harmony, not sameness. -- Analects 13.23