Recently I upgraded my cell phone to the blackberry Tour and now understand why so many people refer to them as “crackberrys.” Many of my friends who have blackberry phones are constantly using them, and now I find myself doing the same thing. Using a blackberry is almost addictive (this may be a bit of an exaggeration) causing people to be on theirs all the time, which makes it comparable to crack, since supposedly it is addictive and the people who use it are on it all the time. Personally I’m not sure why crack is addictive, but I can understand why one would be using his or her blackberry all the time. The blackberry has the ability to do all of the normal functions of a cell phone, plus receive and send e-mails, download and listen to music, take pictures and record videos, access the internet and has applications to use any function on the internet like facebook, and twitter. These are many different tasks the mobile device is able to do that most people do on a daily basis. This makes the blackberry very convenient as many of the things a person does during the day are on one place that can be brought with them almost everywhere they go. People can do all of these tasks at any given point in the day or night as long as they have their mobile device with them. For example everyday I get the New York Times electronic news paper e-mailed to me, so when my alarm goes off on my blackberry in the morning the first thing I do is read the New York Times on my phone rather than having to get out of bed and get on my computer to read it. I also often times respond to e-mails I receive right away on my phone whether I am walking to class or grocery shopping, which I would not be able to do without my blackberry. The concept of the convergence of technological functions of the Blackberry and relying on it, is highlighted in M.T. Anderson’s, Feed. Anderson demonstrates the convergence of many functions of the computer and cell phone through having the characters have their personal Feeds in their brains where all of the functions they would need to do, can be completed in this one place. He also conveys the idea of relying on this convergence of technology especially through the character violet, whose body completely shuts down after her feed stops working. These are concepts that should be considered when using devices such as the blackberry, which can play a large role in our everyday lives.
Tribune Brain: The Blackberry mostly engages the Neocortex part of the brain. When using this media people have to be able to complete multiple tasks at once such as e-mailing, calling, looking up information, downloading, and messaging. In order for them to do this they must use the highly developed part of their brain, which is the Neocortex. Many of the ways people receive their information on blackberrys is through words messages, e-mails, and other sources on the internet, which requires the use of the Neocortex to process this information. The Limbic brain is also engaged when taking into account the physical appearance of the phone. Many people choose case covers and background pictures of the phone, which draw out certain emotions and feelings that are processed in the Limbic brain. The reptilian brain is also engaged from time to time with the blackberry smart phone when people are surprised from the sounds and alerts from their phones, causing adrenalin to kick in, which is a basic bodily function of the reptilian brain.
8 Trends…
Aesthetic Shift- The Blackberry smartphone is a prime example of aesthetic shift towards convergence as it can download almost anything, play music, e-mail people, access the internet, and perform all of the other tasks of a phone. This is a good thing because all of these media functions are in one place, but it can also be bad because if the phone fails to work then a person who relies on being able to do all of these functions at anytime may be hindered by not having the ability to do any of them. Having this convergence also makes it hard to distinguish what is news, entertainment, business, art, ect… because they are all brought together into one mutli-media.
Cultural Shift- Blackberry’s BlackBerry messager (BBM) system represents a cultural shift from privacy to surveillance. BBM enables a person to send a message to another person with the BBM application and view whether or not the receiver has read their sent message or not. This is a shift towards surveillance because the person who sends the message can know if the receiver has their phone with them, and if they have opened the message that was sent to them.
Personal Shift- The BlackBerry also conveys a personal shift from the mass to participatory. A person with a blackberry has the ability to make things personal to him/her along with participating in the
media by being able to set up the phone the way that works best for him/her, being able to go on his/her e-mail account and internet whenever he/she wants, along with making phone calls and sending messages whenever he/she desires. Because of this the phone is customized to their wishes and they participate in using its different functions.7 Principles…
Value Message- This media can demonstrate the principle of value message. By having many functions of different multi-media in one place it does give off the message of valuing the convergence of multi-media functions and the convenience this brings, as people are able to complete their different jobs in one place at almost anytime. This also sends the message of constantly being involved in media, which can be negative if a person is too influenced by it.
Individual Meaning- The Blackberry smartphone also reflects the principle of individual meaning as it is a media that is very open for interpretation on its functions and meanings. Those who use the internet a lot may see it as a helpful tool that allows them to have access to the internet almost all the time. Others who are concerned about keeping up with th
e newest phones may also view the BlackBerry smartphone in a positive light and as something useful. College students may could view it as a helpful way to keep in touch with their teachers and find information due to the internet access. On the other hand, people who use phones simply to call and text message people may view the Blackberry smartphone as something that is over the top and unnecessary.Persuasive Techniques…
Bandwagon- The BlackBerry smartphone includes the persuasive technique of bandwagon when considering what applications to buy for the mobile device. For example when I purchased mine the salesman at the Verizon store persuaded me to get the push to talk feature for the phone through bandwagon. When he was explaining the application to me he said that it was something that everyone will soon get for their phone and it will be something that I will want.
Simple Solutions-One way of persuading people to use a BlackBerry would be through the technique simple solutions. For example a person could make the claim that by getting a BlackBerry a person’s problem of needing constant access to the internet and his/her e-mail account would be solved by getting the cell phone because in theory it is supposed to allow a person constant access to the internet and his/her e-mail account.
Diversion- Another persuasive technique used to get people to use a BlackBerry smartphone is diversion. For example when I purchased mine their was a person whose specific job was to teach people how to use their BlackBerry and to help them fix it if their were any problems. Having this person diverts attention away from issues that people may have with the phone such as it being too difficult to learn how to use, or too hard to fix the problems it may have.
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