In “How the Internet Enables Intimacy”, Stefana Broadbent talks
about the concept of the democratization of intimacy. She explained that
technology is not quite the distraction from the real world as people are
making it out to be. It is true that people are spending more time on their
phones and computers but at the same time they are building relationships with
other people. She claims that the relationships that people build online/
through technology are more safe and intimate. With technology it is able to
pull people away from the real world when they are glued to the computer, but
it can also open up the door to new relationships that we can make online. For example, soldiers who are out fighting in
another country can talk/ Skype to their family members back home. Another example
is the baker who works at 4am pulls away from his work in order to give a call
to his wife at the start of her day. It is because of technology that we have
been able to make these connections that we were never able to make before.
Broadbent also brings to our attention that those in power
are trying to limit us from communicating freely with others. Like at
businesses, they try to keep their employees focused on the work they need to
complete. While at schools, they try to keep their students focused on the
lecture that they are receiving. Broadbent also mentions how students tend to
answer texts in class by doing it underneath their desks. Today, at least 50%
of anybody who has access to email at work is actually doing private email.
Broadbent’s studies also revealed that 75% of people admit to doing private
email at work, while 100% of them admit to texting. In some cases, I believe
that the rule to not use a cellphone or other communication device is important.
If you're being paid to complete a certain task at a desk job, and you are completing
those tasks efficiently, I believe that it is perfectly acceptable to make a
call or answer a text once in a while, just as long as it doesn't interfere
with the work you are required to finish/ work on. If however, making personal
calls or answering texts causes you to fall behind at work, then it needs to
stop.
(texting while at work (on left) texting in class (below))
A connection can be made here between this and the labor
force in Foxconn. Foxconn is a company
that will work anyone willing to the bone paying them the most minimal wages. They
over work them and don’t pay them for the overtime while giving them poor
living and working conditions. In one of its factories located in China, the workers
there are living in factory dorms with roommates who are working different
shifts in the day. The differences that the workers have with the different
shift times and the different dialects of Chinese they speak prevents the
workers from being able to make close connections with each other. This type of
workplace refers to the isolated expectation of the work sphere that was in
place before the democratization of intimacy explained by Broadbent.
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