Hannah Doran and three . Section two will explore how the apps on our phones can be “ generators for constructing and revealing worlds ” ( Frosh 2019 : 2 ) and how each app can construct a different sense of self that can lead to multiple senses of selves appropriate to the different lives lived on each platform . The applications explored in this section will focus on WhatsApp and Discord with also reference to Facebook ; I will outline my own experiences from using each platform . Finally , in section three , I will creatively explore and push the boundaries of the extent to which we can purely living out our lives on our mobile phones with reference to the ominous scene offered to us by Frosh mentioned above .
Section One In MirrorCameraRoom : the gendered multi- ( in ) stabilities of the selfie ( 2017 ), Katie Warfield explores the mobile phone as being experienced as “ multiple consolidated technologies in one device ”. An example of how new technologies “ sublate ” into old ones , with the old technologies not simply being cancelled out , can be seen through the invention of the first front-facing camera by Sony ( Warfield 2017 : 79 ). With the inauguration of this capacity of the forward-facing camera to capture selfies , Warfield analyses the mobile phone as a “ mirror , a camera , and a door to a social media platform ” – within the context of a postphenomenological feminist new materialist approach . Warfield explores each of these three aspects of the mobile respectively through a study including four women in Canada who are self-described
26 avid selfie takers ( Warfield 2017 ). What is important for us lies in the insights gained through the “ glitches ” that she identifies through using the mobile as a mirror . Glitches mark a “ reminder of the giveand-take that always exists in any body-technology encounter ” ( Warfield 2017 : 80 ). One can imagine using the mobile phone as a mirror whilst out in public . As we look at ourselves through this use of the mobile as a mirror , we may notice a hair out of place or a crumb on our lip . By using the mobile-as-mirror , we would correct this by fixing our hair and wiping our nose and mouth . These glitches mark an “ affective … reminder ” of our “ intimate relationship with technology ” ( Warfield 2017 : 80 ). Indeed , within this kind of context , Warfield posits that :
the mirror was used not simply to look , but rather to look , assess , and materially alter one ’ s appearance through a form of material and discursively gendered form of foreplay ( Warfield 2017 : 82 )
It is this idea of the mobileas-mirror that will act as the base to help us navigate the following sections of this essay , namely the exploration of applications on our mobiles . However , to do this cohesively , we must interpret the mobileas-mirror differently and not directly apply Warfield ’ s position . Instead of her literal use of the mirror to look , assess and alter one ’ s appearance , I suggest that a more metaphorical use of the idea of the mirror will unlock a more accurate exploration of what is to follow . We use our mobiles as mirrors , not just to reflect ourselves – a literal mirror image of oneself