The Evolving Presence of the Word: The Cell Phone

• In Event: Stability and Change: Presence of the Word in a World of Cell Phones

Abstract

Due to derridean deconstruction and popular definitions of the word, the concept of presence in Ong is not always well understood. In The Presence of the Word, Walter Ong cautions that presence is not merely spatial: “Only we must be clear that by communications we understand here not simply new gimmicks enabling man to ‘contact’ his fellows but, more completely, the person’s means of entering into the life and consciousness of others, and thereby into his own” (15). And later, “A presence is an interiority bearing toward and calling to another interior, an inwardness which is simultaneously an utterance or “outerance” or “outering” insofar as the other is outside” (309). Presence is more than shared space or co-existence—whether real or virtual; communication is more than transfer of information. Ultimately, Ong connects presence to spiritual values such as altruism, charity, tolerance, and inclusivity. As a sound-based electronic communications device, the omnipresent cell phone would seem to instantiate Ong’s thesis that the general trajectory of electric/electronic communications technology tends toward the enhancement of “presence” between humans and between humans and their life-world. But while this may be a general trend, what Ong found most interesting were the more subtle and local interfaces between traditional and emerging communications technology. Of course what contributes to any effects are not the cell phone itself but first of all its use, or rather uses, and secondly the variety of different media environments which situate those uses. Use of cell phones by family members, by single individuals, in lieu of or as supplement to a landline, or in coordination with text messaging, Internet access, GPS, calculators, cameras, video and music players, -- all of these can modify the degree to which presence can be strengthened or weakened. Cell phones usage can alienate as well as tighten bonds, but more important is the changing sense of presence that such technology can stimulate. An investigation of the uses of the cell phone within varying media environments can shed some light on such an evolution and perhaps help to support Ong’s contentions that depersonalization as a result of technology is often exaggerated, and that reflective knowledge enables human choices that mitigate technological determinism.

Author

• Thomas D. Zlatic, St. Louis College of Pharmacy