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In Farman’s article, he harps on the Kaleidoscope craze in the early 19th century, and how it became a distraction item as a “mobile device.” People were walking into things and missing the social connections on sidewalks (something very common during this time period) because they had one eye focused inside the tin cylinder, drawn by the desire to find and create more patterns. When I read this, it reminded me of a news report someone showed me this summer of a video capturing a woman falling into an open cellar in the sidewalk because she was looking at her phone.
(This video was embedded from youtube, but can be sourced from the hyperlink above or here).
Needless to say, this woman was clearly distracted by her mobile device. I imagine this to be like some people with their kaleidoscopes as well. In this way, the iPhone and the Kaleidoscope as mobile devices were very similar (respectively in their time periods). In the present day, we are often distracted by this crazy draw to the newest technology of our phones, the desire to use our apps and to interact online at any point of the day. People with their kaleidoscopes were being taken away from social life on the street by constantly mesmerized by the patterns and reflections of their devices.
While I think the iPhone has a very similar effect on people today, there is a paradox with smart phones: while they do take the user away from the present social situation he/she is in (say, a lunch with your coworkers), their extensive technology incorporated with social media allows the user to connect with other social life that the user cannot be a part of in that moment. For instance, the woman in the above video could have been connecting with someone so far away that she had not seen in a long time and could not otherwise reach if not for the social technology of the mobile device.
The same could almost be said for the Google VR glasses that Farman mentions at the end of his article. These virtual reality goggles take you to a new world, even though you are “leaving” another one behind. Some people may even like that new world better. So while these mobile devices are distractions like the kaleidoscope, their distractions can connect you to many other different aspects of the world (even if it is a virtual one).
P.S. I am not advocating for the distraction of iPhones. This is merely an observation I made in the article.
Posted from Lindsay Rufolo by Lindsay