msGNU - “Fear of Logging Off” [Track 8]

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Accompanying Essay (PDF)
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Accompanying Essay (PDF)

Thesis Essay: I Can’t Find My Cell Phone, I Can Hardly Breathe: Omnipresent Accessibility and the Fear of Missing Out

Lyrics

wake up in the morning, where’s my cellphone, cellphone
lifeline heartbeat, i listen for the ringtone
phantom vibration in my pocket
notification pops up so quick, i gotta rock it

wrestling with autocorrect, i whine and i moan
ursula franklin said we’re all together alone
like paul simon i’m just a rock, a little island,
but in my profile picture you can bet that i’m smilin

no denying we’re performing in a worldwide sphere
sousveillance spreads through nations,there’s no such thing as ‘here’
there’s just ‘everywhere’
cyberspace is not a place
you read my words and just take it on faith
that this is my real face-
overlooking the potential for catfish disgrace.

attention economy overload
supposed autonomy but i might explode
turn off my gps and try to lay low
don’t call myself an athlete unless my fitbit say so

all of these terrible wearables, useful but scary
big data’s pig’s blood dumped on me like carrie
if you opt out of Facebook now, you’re a luddite
overexposure or privacy, fight the good fight.

hey danah boyd - i’m overjoyed
at the cyborg social networks we’ve all employed
instagram narcissists may get us annoyed
but glowing screens still pull us gladly into the void

stare into the abyss, the fact will stare back
that omnipresent availability invents its own lack
desperate connectivity, new anxiety
striving for microcelebrity notoriety

i still know that there’s something else inside of me
that wants to be free in the way that i used to be
little kid climbing alone to the top of a tree
empty pockets, and no need for anyone else to see.

Download MP3

msGNU - fear off logging off

This is Why Social Media Needs to Change

Close up Man’s hands using Mobile Phone, texting

ENHANCED CELL PHONE OF THE FUTURE

picturephone from ask an engineer

Scrapping a cell phone & cordless phone for gold

Cell phone- a tracking device?

USA: the cellphone surveillance nation

Ursula Martius Franklin - Inductee 2012 - Canadian Science and Engineering Hall of Fame

“Cell Phones in Pittsburgh” - KDKA-TV - 1995 - Day 1

Paul Simon - You Can Call Me Al

danah boyd on Hyperpublic