My Internet Phone

The internet on a mobile phone is like a bar of soap used for so long that it has become thin and pliable, almost translucent in places. I got confused and tried to wash myself with my phone the other day but instead of feeling clean it left me feeling overexposed and giddy. I held them both up and compared, analyzed the purpose and intent and realized that the soap was much more valuable in a specific way. The immense wonder of being able to absorb millions of bits of data through a lens the size of a bar of soap stands as an achievement of epic proportions but the shape, the shape was the thing that struck me.

A sponge, tin of mints, a cassette, a wallet, a deck of cards, and the aforementioned soap and phone share a shape that lends itself to a personalized interaction. Everything but the phone has specific expected results, a use that can be measured by ability or effect. That phone has bridged the gap though; it’s brought a new and immense range of information, instruction and distraction. Although mostly benign there is potential for conveyance of terrible or wonderful information, questions answered and directions given as well as a dark harvest of so many voices that demand attention, especially in the dreary undertow of the comments sections.

I guess if I had to choose it would probably be the soap or the deck of cards, and really if I needed to convey some information the soap can be used to make words or pictures and the cards can create the same kinds of magical illusions and deliberate trickery that the internet brings you on the phone. Maybe they’re not that dissimilar after all.