<incom> cell phones, development

[Bob Hughes]

Much of the mobile phone use that I see is to solve problems that 
people shouldn't have in the first place. And I feel that unless that 
fact is nailed up in great big letters for all to see, discussions 
about mobile phone use to "build a better world" will just end up as 
free generic advertising for the mobile phone industry.

 From here in the UK, it looks as if mobile phone use is related to 
precarity. For the wealthy and secure, the mobile phone is of minor 
importance - the wealthiest often don't have one, or forget to take 
it with them and can't remember its number. For illegal migrants and 
asylum seekers, it is a lifeline.

An extreme example: the 18 Chinese "illegals" who drowned in 
Morecambe Bay while collecting cockles for a restaurant supplier all 
had mobiles and many used them as they drowned. One them used her 
last credit to call home (in China) to ask if someone there could 
find the UK emergency number - but she drowned anyway. (The events on 
which Nick Broomfield's new film "Ghosts" is based.) Or the guy 
interviewed by Felicity Lawrence in Calabria (Guardian, 19.12.06), 
kept like a slave by the gangsters who control the orange harvest, 
who had just texted his wife and children in Cote d'Ivoire, whom he 
hadn't seen for two years and had less and less hope of ever seeing 
again. And to have any hope of getting work, it is vital to have a 
mobile phone that works, and has some credit. I know people who go 
without food to feed their mobiles.

In between these people (and there are millions of them, underpinning 
more and more of the economy) and the rich, are layer upon layer of 
people who, in an increasingly unequal society, feel more and more 
precarious.

The high usage of mobiles among teenagers may say a lot about their 
unmet needs for love, respect and friendship. The mental-health and 
self-harm statistics for teenagers indicate that these needs are 
certainly growing ones in the "advanced democracies".

There was a more positive-looking example (shown on BBC TV last week 
I believe) of an African farmer who is able to sell his crop for a 
much better price thanks to his mobile. But why was the market rigged 
against him in the first place? How did the market become so 
powerful, that it can dictate whether a farmer thrives or starves?

I think the obvious arrangement would be to make inequality illegal. 
In that fight, mobile phone technology will undoubtedly be very 
useful indeed. But what will the technology look like, how will it be 
manufactured, and how might it be used, once inequality has been 
abolished?

I would welcome other people's thoughts about that.

Best wishes,

Bob Hughes

At 2:08 pm -0800 8/2/07, Steve Cisler wrote:
>Cell/mobile phone use is expanding like crazy. I'm
>just starting to look at its uses in development and
>have been collecting stories, problems, and comparing
>services in different developing countries.
>
>
>I have discussed this with friends in Peru, Guatemala,
>and Philippines. I'm interested in how mobile phones
>might be used for international exchange of info and
>conversations, but it's usually rather expensive. If
>you have ideas post them here or write me directly.
>
>I have only briefly reviewed Mobile Active
>http://mobileactive.org/
>
>Steve Cisler
>
>
>
>
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