relationship with my iPhone is more personal than previously anticipated .
I utilise my iPhone and its companionate qualities to create my own ‘ private bubble ’ in public spaces ( Bull , 2004:277 ) via headphones and my Spotify app . Day to day when I am walking , travelling by bus or train alone , I almost always have my headphones on . I prefer being in this internal world and listening to music as I move from place to place , to ‘ fill the ‘ empty ’ urban spaces of the city ’ with my ‘ own reassuring noises ’ ( Puro 2002 cited by Bull , 2004:278 ). This is so habitual for me that when I lost my iPhone , I found it odd and somewhat new to walk through my city alone , be in the present and simply hear its surroundings . I feel more at home with my music playing whilst I move through the world , bringing a part of myself with me wherever I go , unknowingly ‘ encourage ( ing ) the privatization of public space ’ ( ibid , 287 ). Moores notes this experience of ‘ athomeness ’ ( Seamon , 1979 cited in Moores 2009:306 ), arguing that we ‘ dwell in media environments as we simultaneously inhabit physical settings ’ which may ‘ come to feel ‘ thoroughly familiar ’ as we learn to get around them ’ ( Tuan , 1997 cited in Moores 2009:306 ).
COMM731 concentrating on one ’ s phone instead of talking to the person directly ’ ( Chotpitayasunondh and Douglas 2016:9 ). It isn ’ t usually my intention to limit social interactions , although sometimes , if I am tired or not in a sociable mood , I feel glad that I can put my headphones on and ignore everyone . I am part of the society enabling this to become a ‘ social norm ’ ( Chotpitayasunondh and Douglas 2016:11 ).
I try not to get offended when I get phubbed because I imagine that person may be tired or have something else going on , ‘ phubbing may have become the norm as a result of both observed and personal behavior ’ ( Chotpitayasunondh and Douglas 2016:15 ). However , on the occasion that I lost my iPhone , I was hyperaware of how much I got phubbed constantly , both in public and private settings , although admittedly this was mainly an issue for me because I was unable to phub people back . ‘ Smartphone-oriented sociability tends to isolate non-iPhone users ’ ( Lee 2012:78 ). I try to be more mindful since getting my phone back , noticing when I am looking at my phone too much and ignoring the people around me , although more so in private than public settings .
COMMUNICATIONS AND MEDIA
When listening to my private sounds in public , I am more likely to ignore what is going on around me , it may take longer for people to get my attention or they may not try to , knowing that I cannot hear them . This is a form of ‘ phubbing ’ which ‘ represents the act of snubbing someone in a social setting by
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Through this case study , I have explored my personal reliance on my smartphone . By thinking critically about my habits , I have been able to engage further with key literature on digital media , applying it to my every day , mundane behaviours . By relating the event of me