Howard Rheingold’s book, Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution is a commentary concerning the emerging effects wireless technology and mobile devices might have on society. This is not a new topic for Rheingold, he has written other works about trends in computing, communications, and culture, including the book, Virtual Community, a term he also coined. In Smart Mobs, Rheingold explores the groups of friends, colleagues, and/or strangers, who come together in what he calls smart mobs. These are "people who are able to act in concert even if they don’t know each other. The people who make up smart mobs cooperate in ways never thought possible because they carry devices that possess both communication and computing capabilities” (Rheingold, 2002, p. xii). Smart mobs then could be defined as information communities that form with a common interest and exploit the internet and technology. (Fisher, 2003,p. 660) Smart mobs are using technology in ways not necessarily intended and are changing how we live.
Rheingold's research into this new social revolution, is shown in a mixture of discussions with experts in the field, and personal observations of how people are using new technologies and instant access. He begins the book by …show more content…
They are threats to liberty, quality of life, and human dignity (Rheingold, 2002, 185). Questions concerning lack of privacy if our clothes, phones, and other items are always online, and the loss of our humanity and civility with our reliance on machines that will instantly give us what whatever we want or need. The question then becomes will technology rule us or perhaps it will be as Weiser declared in 1991: “The most profound technologies are those that disappear. They weave themselves into the fabric of everyday life until they are indistinguishable from it” (Rheingold, 2002,
Rheingold's research into this new social revolution, is shown in a mixture of discussions with experts in the field, and personal observations of how people are using new technologies and instant access. He begins the book by …show more content…
They are threats to liberty, quality of life, and human dignity (Rheingold, 2002, 185). Questions concerning lack of privacy if our clothes, phones, and other items are always online, and the loss of our humanity and civility with our reliance on machines that will instantly give us what whatever we want or need. The question then becomes will technology rule us or perhaps it will be as Weiser declared in 1991: “The most profound technologies are those that disappear. They weave themselves into the fabric of everyday life until they are indistinguishable from it” (Rheingold, 2002,