In his article “Disconnected Urbanism” Paul Goldberger discuss the way technologies, cell phones in particular, affected people's lives. The author believes that when spending time on the phone people forget about their surroundings. They are not able to fully enjoy the place they are actually in. They are no longer connected to the places they visit. All in all it is possible to agree with the author’s words. The truth is that at present time cell phones substituted a number of things in people's lives. That is why it is possible to say that technologies negatively affected people's sense of place reinforcing the way they experience their surroundings.
Goldberger starts his article with the idea that each place is special and peculiar. When a person is in a certain place he or she starts to feel special connection with it. This feeling is truly unique as each place has its own features and is different. As the author states, while walking around the forest, people get this special feeling of woodsiness or “when you are in the beach, you want to feel connected to sand and surf” (Goldberger). This feeling of engagement is extremely important and it allows people to truly exist in the moment and to enjoy the world around. Even though urbanization has really blurred the differences between many cities, each place is still unique and it deserves people's attention.
However, according to Goldberger, these are mainly cell phones that changed people's sense of place. The author alleges that “when you walk along the street and talk on a cell phone, you are not on the street sharing the communal experience of urban life (Goldenberg) Holding their cell phones people appear to be in some different places – these are actually the places at the end of their phone conversations. The author’s main argument lies in the fact that cell phones do not allow people to be in the moment and to realize how beautiful the world is. Thus, when people are chatting on the phone or just holding it, they often miss all the beautiful things that happen around them. People start to live in some kind of virtual reality but not in the place they are actually in. Goldenberg claims that “even when the phone does not ring at all, and is being used quietly and discreetly, it renders a public place less public” (Goldberger). In such a way the meaning of the place simply becomes diminished and undervalued. Indeed, it is possible to say that cell phones blurred all the possible distinctions between various places.
It is important to note that Goldenberg truly cares about the affects that cell phones may have on people's life. The author believes that their overuse also leads to the problem of cultural loss or even cultural collapse. The places are no longer distinguishable. A person may make a call to New York or California and there would be no difference at all. The only thing that distinguishes these places is the area code which, in fact, turned into simple numbers. According to the author, there were times when the area codes had distinct meaning regarding the geography as they “outlined a clearly defined piece of the earth” (Goldberger). It is clear that the appearance of cell phones totally changed this idea. When thinking about it Goldberger arrives at the conclusion that “every place is exactly the same as every other place. They are all just nodes on a network – and so, increasingly, are we” (Goldberger). From these words it becomes clear that that Goldberger believes that cell phones have a negative impact on culture. The author believes that each place has its own culture with unique features. However, with the appearance of mobile phones these features became just the same.
In general, it is possible to agree with Goldberger’s idea that the appearance of mobile phones has absolutely changed people’s perception of the world. The people are not able to realize the beauty of the places they visit since they constantly switch their attention to their phones. They are in a certain place but their mind is somewhere else. It is possible to say that the problem is much deeper. Nowadays it is hard to imagine a person without mobile phone. The first thing people do in the morning is the checking of their mobiles. They use them during the day texting their friends or chatting with them. People use mobile phones to check the weather forecast, browse the Internet, order some food or simply read the latest news. It seems that mobile phones did not only change people's perception of a place, they changed their whole life. Indeed, cell phones substituted a number of things in people's lives. As a result, it became much harder to truly enjoy any place in a tech saturated world.
At the same time it is worth considering that mobile phones also brought some advantages into people’s lives. The process of communication became much easier. Mobile phones gave people the opportunity to communicate with their relatives or friends who live in long distances. When using their phones people may read about the news and events that happen in different parts of the world. One cannot deny that cell phones made people’s lives much easier. The only thing people should try to do is not to depend on them so much. They should be able to easily turn them off so as to enjoy the beauty of the world and the uniqueness of the place they are in.
Works cited
Goldberger, Paul. “Disconnected Urbanism”. Metropolis. Web. 28 Jan. 2017
