Fwd: youth in japan becoming tribal/nomadic due to mobile technology

[Tom Johnson]

All:

Interesting observations of urban/post-modern behavior patterns driven by
technologies. See, too, "At Center of a Clash, Rowdy Children in Coffee
Shops" http://travel2.nytimes.com/2005/11/09/national/09bakery.html

-tj

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: [hidden email] <[hidden email]>
Date: Nov 11, 2005 11:27 AM
Subject: Re: [MEA] youth in japan becoming tribal/nomadic due to mobile
technology
To: MEA at lists.ibiblio.org

Thank you, John B, for sharing such an interesting report. After a cursory
read, it seems to accurately reflect Walter J. Ong's thoughts on secondary
orality. The following clips struck me most:

>>
[". . .the primate specialist, sic]
says that young Japanese have lost the ability to discern between public and
private space. He adds that they have formed what he calls the dearuki-zoku
(out and about tribe).
>>

This blurring of public and private spaces continues fast and furiously on
college campuses here in the states as well, but it is a social phenomenon
that presses past the borders of youth. For example, yesterday I took
several of my female students to a Victorian tea room for lunch. The place
is called "serenity tea room;" walking in, one is immediately struck with
the way the atmosphere exquisitely reflects its name. On the front door
there is a rather large sign which reads: Please turn off all cell phones or
leave them outside." What a nice respite this affords. I have been there
three or four times, and each time it has been the same: a peaceful, quiet,
conversational atmosphere, -- just lovely. The establishment's efforts in
this regard are a key differeniator among all the other options for lunch in
the area. We sat down and two women in their late fifties/early sixties came
in. Within five minutes one of their cell phones started to ring, and it
rang, and r
ang, and rang. It must have been on the loudest setting possible. As she dug
for it, we just smiled and tried to continue our conversation, assuming she
would turn it off as soon as she found it, but you know what they say about
making assumptions! Despite her luncheon companion, the small interior of
the room, the other guests at the very next table (that would be "us"), AND
the large sign prohibiting cell phones, she continued to blare away
conducting a personal and loud conversation for the next five minutes. --No
apologies, no apparant consideration of anyone else, nothing. More and more
it seems that F2F conversation is being forsaken for the convenience of
instant interpersonal sound-biting. As far as I'm concerned, it's not just
the highly technologized Japanese who are acting like monkeys.

I wonder if any one else on the list can report the same impressions of the
growing trinalism in their own day-to-day experiences. I wonder if this is
just a "life-in-the-city" phenonmenon, or is it happening as much in the
more rural or midwestern sections of the states. How about other countries?
Those of you from Canada and South America, are you finding the same types
of behaviors? Finally, if it's not associated with the instant connection
provided by mobile media, to what do you attribute this shift?

Great article, John.
Thanks,
Stephanie

========
"There's been a dramatic increase in the dearuki-zoku. They don't eat meals
at home with family members and you can clearly see with your own eyes the
large increase in young people who hang about on the streets together with
the same old friends," Masataka tells Sapio. "They make places like Shibuya
their territory and rarely head even to places like (nearby entertainment
and shopping districts) Shinjuku or Harajuku. They get tired going to new
places or meeting new people. If they get hungry while they're strolling
around, they simply get food by going into a convenience store, buying
something and sitting down outside on the curb to eat it. If not that, then
they just hang around for hours in fast food joints."

The primate specialist says the actions of the dearuki-zoku closely resemble
behavior patterns in chimpanzees, which tend to travel in groups, walking
around for a long time without going to any specific place, then eating and
disposing of their wastes in the same place before bedding down on piles of
grass whenever and wherever the inclination takes them.

"This ability to loiter on the streets exists only because of the
proliferation of mobile phones. Parents let their kids go out because they
think they're only a phone call away. And even if the kid doesn't come home,
parents don't call them because they believe the child's mobile phone offers
them an unbreakable link," Masataka tells Sapio. "Behind this imagined ease
of mind, though, lies a breakdown in communications among the family
members. Mobile phones have made it possible to connect to family members or
other parts of society 24 hours a day, drastically changing the nature of
relationships that humans have created through their evolution."

-----Original Message-----
From: John Joseph Bachir <[hidden email]>
To: MEA at lists.ibiblio.org
Sent: Fri, 11 Nov 2005 12:18:33 -0500
Subject: [MEA] youth in japan becoming tribal/nomadic due to mobile
technology


http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/waiwai/news/20051110p2g00m0dm013000c.html

Nobuo Masataka, a professor at the Kyoto University Primate Research
Institute and author of the monster best seller "Keitai wo Motta Saru
(Monkeys With Mobile Phones)," argues that the proliferation of mobile
phones has got young Japanese making monkeys of themselves, aping the
behavior patterns of chimpanzees.

He says that young Japanese have lost the ability to discern between
public and private space. He adds that they have formed what he calls
the dearuki-zoku (out and about tribe).

"There's been a dramatic increase in the dearuki-zoku. They don't eat
meals at home with family members and you can clearly see with your
own eyes the large increase in young people who hang about on the
streets together with the same old friends," Masataka tells Sapio.
"They make places like Shibuya their territory and rarely head even to
places like (nearby entertainment and shopping districts) Shinjuku or
Harajuku. They get tired going to new places or meeting new people. If
they get hungry while they're strolling around, they simply get food
by going into a convenience store, buying something and sitting down
outside on the curb to eat it. If not that, then they just hang around
for hours in fast food joints."

[snip]
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--
==============================================
J. T. Johnson
Institute for Analytic Journalism
www.analyticjournalism.com <http://www.analyticjournalism.com>
505.577.6482(c) 505.473.9646(h)
http://www.jtjohnson.com tom at jtjohnson.com

"He who refuses to do arithmetic is doomed to talk nonsense."
-John McCarthy, Stanford University mathematician
==============================================
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[Pamela McCorduck]

Tom, do you get Elite, or Special, or whatever the Times website  
calls itself these days?  Our understanding is that because we  
subscribe from a "third party," we aren't eligible  for it here in  
SF.  We subscribe from the Times directly  in NYC, but in that case,  
hardly need the website.

Sorry I've missed FRIAM a couple  of times--last week was an SFI  
meeting; this morning I was getting over a major cold.  For the next  
couple of weeks we'll be in NYC, but after that, I expect to be back.

P.




"How long will you say these things, and the words of your mouth be a  
great wind?"

                                 Job 8:2

[Tom Johnson]

No, we haven't subscribed and I mean to write to young Mister AS to complain
about that. Last night he was on Charlie Rose saying that subscribers to the
NYT can get access included in their subscription price. But since we can't
subscribe....

We do subscribe to the Sunday paper, which seems to be delivered by The New
Mexican carrier.

All this said, I bet Joe's access to the CU library would get you into
Lexus-Nexus or Factiva, which would get you to the archives. Another tack
might be through the SF Public Library account.

-T

On 11/11/05, Pamela McCorduck <pamela at well.com> wrote:

>
> Tom, do you get Elite, or Special, or whatever the Times website
> calls itself these days? Our understanding is that because we
> subscribe from a "third party," we aren't eligible for it here in
> SF. We subscribe from the Times directly in NYC, but in that case,
> hardly need the website.
>
> Sorry I've missed FRIAM a couple of times--last week was an SFI
> meeting; this morning I was getting over a major cold. For the next
> couple of weeks we'll be in NYC, but after that, I expect to be back.
>
> P.
>
>
>
>
> "How long will you say these things, and the words of your mouth be a
> great wind?"
>
> Job 8:2
>
>
>
> ============================================================
> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
> Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at Mission Cafe
> Wed Lecture schedule, archives, unsubscribe, maps, etc. at
> http://www.friam.org
>

--
==============================================
J. T. Johnson
Institute for Analytic Journalism
www.analyticjournalism.com <http://www.analyticjournalism.com>
505.577.6482(c) 505.473.9646(h)
http://www.jtjohnson.com tom at jtjohnson.com

"He who refuses to do arithmetic is doomed to talk nonsense."
-John McCarthy, Stanford University mathematician
==============================================
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[Owen Densmore]

The local Santa Fe library has a website which has access to  
electronic forms of many newspapers and magazines.  In particular, it  
has all the NYTimes TimesSelect features, the ones that require a  
subscription.

All I had to do was go to our local library and ask for the login  
information to the various services.  I tried the TimesSelect service  
for a few days .. the free trial .. but decided the local paper's  
version was just fine.

The service is called ProQuest, but I believe there are other  
equivalent ones.

     -- Owen

Owen Densmore
http://backspaces.net - http://redfish.com - http://friam.org


On Nov 11, 2005, at 5:28 PM, J T Johnson wrote:

> No, we haven't subscribed and I mean to write to young Mister AS to  
> complain
> about that. Last night he was on Charlie Rose saying that  
> subscribers to the
> NYT can get access included in their subscription price. But since  
> we can't
> subscribe....
>
> We do subscribe to the Sunday paper, which seems to be delivered by  
> The New
> Mexican carrier.
>
> All this said, I bet Joe's access to the CU library would get you into
> Lexus-Nexus or Factiva, which would get you to the archives.  
> Another tack
> might be through the SF Public Library account.
>
> -T
>
> On 11/11/05, Pamela McCorduck <pamela at well.com> wrote:
>
>>
>> Tom, do you get Elite, or Special, or whatever the Times website
>> calls itself these days? Our understanding is that because we
>> subscribe from a "third party," we aren't eligible for it here in
>> SF. We subscribe from the Times directly in NYC, but in that case,
>> hardly need the website.
>>
>> Sorry I've missed FRIAM a couple of times--last week was an SFI
>> meeting; this morning I was getting over a major cold. For the next
>> couple of weeks we'll be in NYC, but after that, I expect to be back.
>>
>> P.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> "How long will you say these things, and the words of your mouth be a
>> great wind?"
>>
>> Job 8:2
>>
>>
>>
>> ============================================================
>> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
>> Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at Mission Cafe
>> Wed Lecture schedule, archives, unsubscribe, maps, etc. at
>> http://www.friam.org
>>
>>
>
>
>
> --
> ==============================================
> J. T. Johnson
> Institute for Analytic Journalism
> www.analyticjournalism.com <http://www.analyticjournalism.com>
> 505.577.6482(c) 505.473.9646(h)
> http://www.jtjohnson.com tom at jtjohnson.com
>
> "He who refuses to do arithmetic is doomed to talk nonsense."
> -John McCarthy, Stanford University mathematician
> ==============================================
> ============================================================
> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
> Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at Mission Cafe
> Wed Lecture schedule, archives, unsubscribe, maps, etc. at http://
> www.friam.org