Social Mobiles

2003

Crispin Jones (UK)
Graham Pullin
Mat Hunter
Anton Schubert

The cell phone has become the constant companion of men and women in the industrialized world. Something that people were still dreaming about a few years ago is now a standard component of everyday life. But while the functions of cell phones are being constantly expanded and enhanced, absolutely no consideration has been given to date to the social aspects of this form of communication. Many people feel quite vexed by loud cell phone conversations, their persistent ringing, and the curse of permanent accessibility.

In an opinion poll recently conducted by Radio 4 in Great Britain, the cell phone took third place among the most despised inventions of the last hundred years, whereas the desk-top telephone was among the 10 most beloved. And it is precisely this social aspect of technology that the cell phones of “Social Mobiles” address.

“Social Mobiles” includes five cell phone models that exert an influence on the telephone behavior of their users and modify it in such a way that it has a less disruptive effect. If the conversation is too loud, an electroshock is triggered; to reach someone, a particular tone has to be played; and it’s possible to send a signal to interfere with the conversation of someone disturbing others around them.

SoMo1 (the electric shock mobile) generates an electrical shock whose strength depends on the volume at which the person on the other end of the line is speaking, and is designed to make both parties of the conversation speak softer.

SoMo2 (the speaking mobile) makes silent communication possible. If a call comes in when the user is at a place where quiet should be maintained, he/she can answer by means of simple but highly expressive individualized sounds that are produced by the cell phone and can be delicately intoned by hand. SoMo2 is the antithesis of text messaging in that it conveys rich emotional nuance at the expense of textual information.

The user of SoMo3 (the musical mobile) has to “play” the melody of the telephone number he/she wishes to call. This public performance that must be delivered to dial the number establishes the “threshold of embarrassment” and thus the circumstances under which the call seems to be appropriate.

By using SoMo4 (the knocking mobile), the user indicates the urgency of his/her call by knocking. The call recipient hears the knocking as well, and can thus decide whether to take a particular call or not.

Noise infiltration of the telephone calls of others is possible with SoMo5 (the catapult mobile). Firing the catapult launches a sound bomb into the cell phone of the annoying party, and thus produces a direct but discreet intervention in his/her private sphere.

“Social Mobiles” was produced in collaboration with IDEO, an international design consulting firm. Since the project was a collaborative effort involving numerous designers from a wide range of fields, several prototypes displaying an array of incredibly ingenious forms and functions could be produced. Their designs are meant to conceal their date of production as much as possible—they look old-fashioned and modern at the same time and are made of unusual materials (wood, for instance). These devices are not meant to be understood as the “next generation” of cell phones; rather, they have been designed to make those viewing them aware that this is chiefly a matter of interaction and not simply one of form.

“Social Mobiles” was realized in cooperation with IDEO London.