Cellphones, Mapping, and Human Development

Markoff, John. "The Cellphone, Navigating Our Lives." The New York Times 17 February 2009. 18 February 2009 <http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/17/science/17map.html?_r=1&scp=3&sq=Markoff&st=cse>.

Markoff's fascinating article examines the expanding capacity of cellphones, and in particular the use of GPS chips, which Markoff suggests is creating a new metaphor for computer data: the map. The article details cellphone mapping efforts, especially Google's Latitude. The most provocative portion of the article analyzes how consumers respond to this new technology, a technology that not only allows users to know where friends and family are 24/7, but also allows others to know where you, the user, are 24/7. Markoff suggests that there are and will be generational differences, with older consumers being more uncomfortable with this "big brother" feature, while younger consumers who have grown up with MySpace and Facebook will be not only more comfortable with this feature, but will also use the feature in both social and business settings. Markoff quotes neurobiologist Hugh Spiers, who said, " I have wondered about the fact that we might as a culture lose the skill of mapping our environment, relying on the Web to tell us how to navigate [. . .]. Thus, it might reduce the growth of cells in the hippocampus, which we think stores our internal maps." The references in this article will be valuable to anyone researching related topics. If you are interested in cellphones, mapping, and technologies influence on human development, then you will be interested in this article.