Mobile Phones in Writing

[black_faery]

Time for another writing-related pondering over lunchtime, following on from a chat I was having yesterday evening at writing group.

The introduction of technologies into society clearly changes the boundaries of the world we live in. I recently re-read Susan Cooper's The Dark Is Rising sequence, and found myself wondering what younger readers

Comments

[makyo]

I went to a talk by Charlie Stross a few years ago, in which he discussed the various problems facing someone writing stories set in the near future. While (with a bit of careful thought) it's possible to predict technological advances by extrapolating from what's available now and where the research seems to be going, it's a lot harder to fully anticipate the social changes that are triggered by the new technology. The example he gave was that pretty much everybody saw mobile phones coming, a good couple of decades off. And when cheaper digital cameras became prevalent, it was obvious that someone would combine them with mobile phones to allow us to send photos to our friends. But absolutely nobody, not even the people who think about this sort of thing really carefully, predicted happy slappingOne of the other things he noted in that talk (or possibly another one) was that we are probably the last generation of (first world) people who will know what it's like to be lost. Kids growing up now have phones with GPS receivers and

[d_floorlandmine]

a time when if you arranged to be somewhere at a certain time, you were there, because you had no other way of letting your friends or family know that you wouldn't be
We were having this very discussion at work the other week. Helped by one of my younger colleagues referring to it as "in the old days" ... [wince]

As to how to resolve it in a fictional setting - I'd need to think more about that ... obviously, post-disaster settings help, as cellphones rely on an extant network of cell towers - disrupt those, and you can rule out all but high-power satellite phones. Also, there are areas outside cell coverage, but they're getting rarer (underground and sturdy buildings count, though). Then again, most young people will have experienced the "no signal" experience, and for them it would probably result in an even greater feeling of disconnection, fear and uncertainty than for those of us who've not grown up 'connected'. There was a woman on the train this morning who tutted when her conversation was cut off by a signal drop-out ...

[tanglewitch]

If you're thinking of the same bit in the Dark is Rising Sequence as I am (where John Rowlands goes home without Will and Bran cos they were late?) that would still work today on the grounds they probably wouldn't get a signal in that area of Wales! *grin* In rural settings that plot device works quite nicely - I don't get a signal in some parts of Selby and I certainly don't get a signal where my mum and dad live in Cheshire. In an urban setting it would be quite different - you'd expect to get a signal everywhere, wouldn't you?
I can recommend Charles Stross' books too - I love the heist one of his set in Scotland in and out of a MMORPG - the use of technology he imagines in that is fantastic. I can't recall the title - I think it's something like Halting State?

[ultharkitty]

Nice post :D

As for technology, either I write about settings that just don't have mobile phones or that kind of tech, or I write about giant alien robots, who have it as an integral part of themselves.

I think there's a lot of opportunity with mobile tech as far as stories go, but I do get your point about it changing things for the annoying sometimes! (for the writer, anyway)