Information Technology Reference
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mobile devices actually one of the main reasons
for the busy lifestyle? A few years ago, Finnish
boys went out after school to play football or ice-
hockey together. At the moment, they rush home
to chat via the internet or update their Facebook
profile, and are unable to agree with their friends
what to do next - the communication plans do not
seem to be extendable beyond the current minute
of internet use. If they get fed up with chatting, they
text their friends and ask if they would like to do
something (and rarely succeed in getting anyone
to come out of their house to play). At the same
time, obesity as well as back and neck complaints
among adolescents have increased rapidly (see e.g.
Alexander & Currie, 2004; Hakala et al., 2006).
Mobile devices, do however, it could be argued
enable 'mobility', and support the 'instant-life-
style' making it possible to contact anyone any
time. The lack of meals together indicates the same
phenomenon; even that one single time, e.g. din-
ner time, cannot be agreed in advance. Instead of
proper meals, we eat unhealthy snacks, with well
publicised consequences. In terms of communi-
cation, the value of family meals should not be
underestimated (see an overwhelming collection
of research reports about shared meals and their
impact in physical and social health by Mayfield,
2007). The potential for constant contact and com-
munication may not always be beneficial for either
parent or child. Research by Weisskirch, (2009)
found that a greater frequency of parental calls to
their children led to less adolescent truthfulness.
Perhaps then technology has a role to play
in freeing up families from mundane tasks al-
lowing them to spend more time together? In
a vision of the near future, Little, Sillence and
Briggs (2009) described a scenario in which a
trip to the supermarket is supported by the use
of a biometric payment system, radio frequency
identification tags on household products and a
fridge, cupboard and waste bin that monitor and
communicate seamlessly with the shopper's PDA
creating a shopping list of items needed. Whilst at
one level this might seem like a good use of tech-
nology, speeding up transactions and increasing
convenience, the authors note that the increased
functionality of such a system is in conflict with
the subtle social interactions that sustain family
bonds. For example, the shopper receiving a mes-
sage on their PDA alerting them to the fact that
the household had run out of biscuits, alcohol
and condoms would potentially damage the trust
and privacy balance within the family. On the
other hand, the idea of using technology to free
time from mundane tasks to something else is not
new. The marketing of household appliances has
always alluded to easier everyday life. However,
there is evidence that the ownership of household
appliances does not lead to less time spent on
household work, sometimes quite the opposite
(Bittman, Rice & Wajcman, 2004). *
The vision of a highly automated shopping
experience with the support of mobile devices
can be easily associated with the early notions
of human-computer interaction by Card, Moran
and Newell (1983). In their framework, the ma-
chine and its human operator were supposed to
constitute a seamless whole performing a task.
In other words, the role of the human operator
('user') could be characterised as being part of the
productive machinery. In the vision of high-tech
shopping, the 'task' has been broken down to its
constituents and described as a process chart. I.e.,
shopping is paralleled with industrial process.
This kind of approach reveals how completely
inappropriate the engineering perspective is to
conceptualise real life. Is our everyday life, even
at home, simply a set of tasks to be performed?
Effective internet access is seen today as almost
a civil right. For instance, in Finland it has been
compulsory for telecoms providers to offer rea-
sonably priced broadband for all households and
enterprises from July this year. If it is so important
to arrange internet access for all, it is worth hav-
ing a closer look at what people do with it. With
regard to families, a recent study by Symantec
(2009) concerning the internet searches carried
out by children is very informative. The three
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