Technology has without a doubt done incredible things for the world. I personally do not know a time without technology or wireless internet. Even if I tired to imagine a life like that, I wouldn’t be able to. I think it is safe to say that the internet runs our lives (or at least it definitely does for me).  In the article “Smartphones revolutionize our lives—but at what cost?”, Yudhijit Bhattacharjee spoke about his phone in the most spot on manner. He said “For that moment of connection, and many others like it, my phone deserves my gratitude. But the same device has become a source of relentless distraction in my life, intruding upon my attention with frightening regularity and diminishing my in-person interactions with family and friends.” Yes, cellphones have revolutionized the way we live but they have also diminished the beauty of it as well. When I think about my phone, I could go on and on about all the things that I could do with it and I could confidently say that I cannot live without it. On top of the regular cellphone aspects of being able to contact anyone from anywhere whether it is from a phone call or a text message, I can listen to music, do some online shopping, take pictures, play games, go on any and every social media platform, read a book, do my homework and the list goes on. All of this is at my fingertips no matter where I go and no matter the time but can quickly became overbearing. Bhattacharjee goes on to say, “These benefits, however, seem to have come at a high cost to our mental and social lives.” Because we are always connected, sometimes it’s hard to disconnect. I’ve be trying to work on it but when I go out to dinner, I have to instagram my food because if I don’t… did it even happen? Or going to any event and instagramming any moment of it because you “have” to. Or being around friends and family and not being able to put your phone down because you are too busy scrolling. These are all examples of how phones have taken over our social lives but it is much deeper for our mental health. The best example I could give would be back in March when COVID-19 took over, we were BOMBARDED with information. No matter what you were doing on your phone. you were getting constant information about it and that easily became overbearing, especially in a time where everyone was quarantined and the only thing we could do was sit at home and be on our phones.

As great as technology has come, I’ve come to the understanding that it is important to set up boundaries and put my phone down. It has taken over my life and although I still believe that I cannot live without it, a couple of hours a day won’t hurt.

With the invention and rise of wireless technology, it definitely changed the way we think about public and private spaces. Wireless technology revolves around the internet and without it, wireless technology would not be possible. Examples of wireless technology includes GPS, Garage Door/Motion Detection openers, wireless headphones/headsets/computer mouses, game consoles, any many more. In public spaces, there are a few places where there is public wifi where everyone can access wifi. In private places, one can use airplay on their phone to a smart TV to watch videos/something on the phone with others or by yourself. Wireless technology has changed both public and private spaces, and the upcoming rise of AI (alexa, siri, etc), who knows what can happen next.

In professor Brucker-Cohen article on his Wifi-Hog, it seemed interesting to see what that was about. According to the text, It was meant to allow traffic originating from the Wifi-Hogger’s IP address to access the network, otherwise the PVJ is switched on, blocking others from connecting to the open node. This affects public spaces because others are not allowed to use wifi from the public wifi. 

Wireless technology has created and allowed for a system of networks to be connected on a global scale like we have never seen before. Wireless technology could be considered dangerous because of the illusion of privacy. When one thinks of their smartphones and WIFI, they believe it to be solely theirs. However, this could not be far from the truth and the information stored on such devices is what makes that so. Any device, that has ever connected to the internet has now become a part of the public one way or another by means of personal data which can be easily accessible to some third parties. A smartphone can never be a private space. Another interesting matter when it comes to wireless technology and public verses private spaces can be seen in the example of given by Slashdot in their article, “Starbucks Clashes With WiFi Hobbyists Over Airwaves”. Private companies can start banking off free WIFI services by charging a monthly fee to their customers. If you are an avid Starbucks attender, between the coffee, snacks and semi-comfortable seating, paying for WIFI in exchange for a convenient workplace filled with drinks and snacks might not be such a bad idea, while the park just outside offers wireless connection for free it only has one bench that is always taken by tourists. Private companies have also been known to offer free WIFI with a time limit until they start charging you. This a way to get the ever-connected generation out the door in order to increase customer flow rates and decrease overcrowding. Private companies, that offer a public space for gathering, are now able to make money off of publicly offered WIFI. Most wouldn’t even notice. This also correlates with the matter of who can access your information once you have connected to a public WIFI domain. Your “private space” runs the risk of no longer being private.

When it comes to private and public spaces already located on the internet, Wikipedia is the first company that comes to mind. The article entitled, “Corruption, Treachery and Deceit at Wikipedia” by Wolfshead, discusses the hierarchy of what information comes to the surface in a general search. It also reminds us of how anyone at all can contribute to its pages and display inaccurate information just for the fun of it. Though Wikipedia is a private company it offers the public a space where anyone and everyone can contribute to the knowledge it holds. This can be dangerous for an eager student absorbing the knowledge left by an internet troll. I guess that’s why the majority of people question Wikipedia’s credibility. The idea behind Wikipedia didn’t take into account the power behind anonymity and how people could use that to change perspectives and ideas of truth and knowledge.

Wireless technology has changed the way we think of public and private places because it has created so many differences to the lives of many in ways that one would  have imagined back then. Wireless Technology has helped many lives run more smoothy because we can depend on it during our everyday like wether personal or public. In the article WiFi-Hog: From Reaction to Realization by Professor Jonah Brucker-Cohen it states, “Free nodes are popping up in public parks, airport terminals, libraries, schools, and other venues worldwide. In addition to sanctioned spaces for the nodes, private nodes without encryption are leaking from offices and houses onto city and rural streets.” this shows how public placed have adapted to wireless technology users to make their lives easier. But personally, I believe this feature of wireless technology being used in public places can be sketchy.

Wireless technology is a form of technology that always keeps us connected to others in the world but to many, this is a concern because you’re always in the eye of the public. As mentioned in the article ‘Social Impacts the Telephone and The Cell Phone Has Had onSociety’, by Victor Epand it states, “Without doubt, mobile telephony offers enormous advantages and added convenience, greater personal security, and the ability to take advantage of ‘dead’ time to do business on the move.”…. the social changes being wrought by a technology which, by making us permanently contactable, is having a profound effect on our interpersonal interaction.” Although we tend to focus more on the benefits of wireless technology, it is important to point out the negatives because it is just as important. The use of wireless technology in public places can cause for ones device to get hacked because you don’t know how can be in control of the wireless hotspots. We’ll need to be very careful when using our devices in public.

Question: How has wireless technology changed how we think of public vs. private spaces?

It is clear that wireless technology has really answered problems of a previous generation but also caused issues for the present generation. As stated in the article by Yudhijit Bhattacharjee, getting lost isn’t really a thing anymore. No one gets lost anymore because all one needs to do is go on google maps and find their way home. This solved an issue for the generation before the smartphone and that is great; no one now needs to spend more time than they need traveling from one place to another. But the advancement also had huge problems for the present generation. Bhattacharjee spoke about how parents are spending less and less time with their kids and that they are spending less and less time actually socializing. So in a private place like one’s home, wireless technology has distracted people from living in the moment. We can see this in paragraph eight where she sights the research of smartphones and how they might affect a conversation. She says “Those who had left their phones in another room fared the best. Those with the phones placed in front of them did the worst. But even those who had tucked their phones in their pockets were found to have diminished cognitive capacity.” In summary, when your phone is within an arm’s reach, you are more likely to be thinking about both getting the phone and about the conversation but not engaging in the conversation. 

Personally, in terms of my own private spaces, I feel incredibly disgusted and I don’t really have anyone else to blame but me. I used an app (which is now shutdown) that was called google music (or something like that) and it was basically for listening to music. One day I go into my settings on my desktop and I see everything. I see ALL of my history. The music I listened to and when and it was very detailed as well. Even though I bought the music, google was still tracking where and when i was listening to the music and what songs as well. With wireless technology, it really helped to keep me more entertained but it also made it so much easier for big tech to track me and what i am like.

Also, I don’t know if it is just me but I never really am bothered by large antenna signals. Maybe that is me living in NYC and expecting beauty to be found not in my surroundings. I look outside and everything is already ugly as hell so there I don’t really care if there is a giant 5G antenna outside. Maybe the conspiracy theorist though. I think it is an interesting strategy that these companies like starbucks really are. The people were used to having free Wi-Fi so that they could use their phones and laptops but when these companies pushed these free Wi-Fi away and made it so that others have to pay, people were basically hooked and they had a choice, either pay up large amounts of money or don’t use it at all. This is just another example of greedy corporations turning something that was cool and useful into a milk-the-cow situation. Private spaces over the air are now controlled by corporations as well.

Wireless technology’s development and evolution in the past decade or even the past two decades has been tremendous. If you think back, you might remember having to always be tethered to something in order to communicate with someone or having to lug around a giant machine just to do something simple. Take the mobile telephone for example: years ago, it served only one purpose – to call someone. But now, after so many years and advancements in technology, the mobile phone has evolved into the smartphone, bolstering hundreds of features. In just a 5.6 inch screen – or what have you, you can call others, send emails, watch movies, listen to music, conduct mathematical equations and even more recently, wirelessly charge the device. It’s like author had Victor Epand said in his “Social Impacts The Telephone And The Cell Phone Has Had On Society” article, “Without doubt, mobile telephony offers enormous advantages and added convenience, greater personal security, and the ability to take advantage of ‘dead’ time to do business on the move.”

But the advancement of wireless technology doesn’t come with no cost. There’s the obvious cost of having to pay for wireless technology. But disregarding its financial impact, think about its environmental impact. Wireless technology works via antennas, routers and satellites that communicate from across the world, into countries, cities and various neighborhoods. In a once pleasant skyline of buildings and lights at night, “Many cities around the world are becoming blighted by a gaggle of ugly mobile antennae”. The beautiful roads of a city with people, flowery detail and trees lining the path are now subject to wireless technology and its infrastructure of electrical poles, telephone lines and the likes, detracting the beauty of the scene.

Wireless technology may be great for that convenience factor, but it also affects the environment. Not only that, it can affect our perception of personal space. Say you lived in a neighborhood of hundreds in the country side or by the mountains and everyday you wake to a beautiful sunrise. The sun’s rays beam over the mountain tops and casts its orange-yellow hue across your neighborhood whilst the birds chirped from the nearby birdhouse. You would think that you have a beautiful and serene private space to tend to yourself. And yet, you’re wrong. The companies of wireless technology have decided there is potential in expanding the wireless range across to your region to offer its technology. In order to do so, they pummel through your land to install antennas atop houses and electrical poles replace the daisies and roses that lines the dirt road. Congratulations, your neighborhood is now equip with wireless technology. You’re private space is now connected to the rest of the world.

Before wireless technology, private spaces were just a place of solitude and all you had to do was avoid people. But with technology, not only do you have to avoid people in person, you also have to avoid them online. You can’t enjoy a nice private sunbathing session with your friends and family calling you on the phone every other minute.

Wireless technology has changed the way we think of public and private spaces in different way. What I mean by that is that wireless technology has become a great game changer. It has helped plenty of people connect to their loved ones or get some sort of information about themselves. At the same time according to “Smartphone revolutionize our lives – but at what cost? It said, “Researchers have begun documenting the impact of smartphones on our ability to focus”. I believe that point is true there are many instances where people try to “social cleanse” and failed to come through for the reason to having separation anxiety from their phones. This having always the phone on us causes one to lack other skills such as reading and writing. Besides this another thing is if one connects to “free Wi-Fi” is it actually free or is it costing our personal information or other things. According to “Social Impacts The Telephone and The Cell Phone Has Had on Society” it said, “In order to avoid problems with environmental groups and local communities — which can be potentially costly in terms of both legal fees and delays in network roll-out — many equipment manufacturers and operators are now working on ways to reduce the environmental impact of cellular antennas.” For having “free Wi-fi” it is now costing the environment as well.

Wireless technology has evolved tremendously the past two decades especially within the past few years as well. “Like most young technologies, mobile telephony is experiencing its share of teething troubles, including concerns about environmental impact, health and safety, and, of course, the social changes being wrought by a technology which, by making us permanently contactable, is having a profound effect on our interpersonal interaction.” This quote was taken from the first article “Social Impacts The Telephone And The Cell Phone Has Had On Society”, in which it discusses that the rise in wireless technology has grown over the years but that there are negative outcomes because of it. Some of the problems arising with this growth is with the “environmental impact, health and safety, and, of course, the social changes being wrought by a technology which, by making us permanently contactable, is having a profound effect on our interpersonal interaction.” 

In the other articles there seems to be more negative issues in connection to the use of the Internet and technology. With technology, there can be the misuse of information and false tenses can be given to an individual, if they aren’t careful. There will always be a good and bad side with the access of technology and the way it is being utilized. 

Over the last decade with the rising popularity and dependency of wireless technology, name your pick, there is no such thing as private spaces or privacy anymore. Personal time is no longer personal; whereas once one was able to appreciate any slow and quiet time, now that same person is more inclined to fill that void with social media, texting, or even a leisurely phone call. The privacy one can sometimes long for has ceased to exist thanks to the virtual noise of wireless technology. That much-needed expresso or latte is now posted online because of it’s cute yet impressive foam art or it’s the universally symbolic status of an exhaustion fighter, the wireless world keeps conversation constant even during that blissful moment of privacy. This also includes vacations- before the advent of modern smartphones, we would often take pictures from a disposable camera or use a personal camcorder to capture certain highlights of the trip, now every five seconds, a picture is taken or a live video is streamed; no longer signifying the privacy of our personal time. Privacy has become public- there’s no doubt about that. 

I usually have a rule when it comes to enjoying private time with friends, family, or on a date; put the phone down, put it away, or turn it off unless an important call is expected. However, when I notice that the phone becomes more of a priority than myself then the social event comes to an end. As Yudhjit Bhattacharjee writes “…When people had access to their phones, they were also more bored, which is not what we were expecting,” Dwyer says. Having your phone on the table while dining, he adds, is “probably not going to ruin your meal, but it could chip away at your enjoyment.” The toll exacted by this phenomenon on close family relationships is easy to extrapolate…” Constant checking of social media, texts, emails- symbolizes boredom in a not so subtle way making it very clear that either you’re wasting someone’s time and vice versa. The urge to smash someone’s phone will be there until the function has ended. 

Now, in order to use our phones or other wireless devices, there must be antennas. Lots of antennas which is not an issue for big cities around the world, in fact, we tend to overlook these antennas seeing how they fit in with modern buildings but it becomes an eyesore for once beautiful areas filled with lupins, lush forests, valleys, and gorgeous rolling hills. These quiet and often gorgeous areas fall victim to monstrous antennas which take away from nature’s beauty. As cell phone usage rises, this means more antennas, which requires more electricity, which in turn requires more scenic areas to be spoiled. Victor Epand writes “…In suburban and semi-rural areas, on the other hand, the large, steel-grey structures needed to support larger cells are harder to hide — yet some operators have nonetheless come up with innovative solutions. In South Africa, for example, at least one operator has taken to camouflaging GSM towers in tropical palm trees, with surprisingly successful results. Elsewhere, the tall spires of churches and cathedrals are being used to hide antennas, representing a positive solution for both the general public and the religious organizations which suddenly find themselves with a profitable antenna-site rental on their hands.”  It’s gotten to the point where antennas need to be camouflaged as to not disturb the scenic environment. 

Private spaces are now a thing of the past. We can no longer get away from the busy world around us without being reminded of our dependency on wireless devices; whether it be our phones physically or the antennas used to maintain reception.