24/7: How Cell Phones and the Internet Change the Way We Live, Work, and Play

Just as the automobile radically changed people's lives at the beginning of the 20th century, so too has the revolution in online services (including blogging, podcasting, videogaming, shopping, and social networking) and cell-phone use changed our lives at the turn of the 21st ...Just as the automobile radically changed people's lives at the beginning of the 20th century, so too has the revolution in online services (including blogging, podcasting, videogaming, shopping, and social networking) and cell-phone use changed our lives at the turn of the 21st century. In addition, many other services, activities, and devices—including the Palm Pilot, the BlackBerry, the iPod, digital cameras, and cell cameras—have been made possible by the combination of these two technologies. As Hanson demonstrates in her new book, these technologies enable us to work and play 24/7, anytime, anywhere.What does this mean for us as individuals and for society as a whole? Do people of different generations use these technologies in the same ways, or do they adopt them to support their communication habits formed at different times of their lives? Hanson examines the wide-ranging impact of this change.

Is it possible to ever completely prevent identity theft over the Internet? Do cell phones change the way people think about privacy or the way they communicate with others? Does email? Do videogames teach new social principles? Do cell phones and the Internet change traditional communication behaviors and attitudes? Hanson discusses these crucial issues and explores to what extent individuals do have control, and she assesses how social and governmental services are responding to (or running from) the problems posed by these new technologies.