Abstract
Stephen Monteiro’s Needy Media: How Tech Gets Personal explores users’ overreliance on networked personal media. The author, Stephen Monteiro, places particular emphasis on mobile media devices as companions that, for many people, are always with them. He claims that because of this, our devices’ data and the algorithms that support their operations are able to accumulate more information about us than we realize, possibly generating insights about us that even close friends and family do not know.
To make this case, Monteiro draws from different disciplines, including anthropology, linguistics, sociology, and cultural studies. He explores how media might dictate our moods, replace human interaction, give us a false sense of control, and fuel an addiction to technology and being online. Monteiro argues that in order to get back to so-called “normalcy” and restore human connection and communication, users must first be aware of the control that these devices have and work toward a solution that includes balance.
Chapter 1, “Building the ‘Perfectly’ Personal,” traces digital intimacy to micro and personal computers. According to Monteiro, having a small, portable, and customizable personal computer created a reliance on technological interaction over face-to-face communication with others. In the mid-1970s, when computers were welcomed into homes, computational technology began shifting toward personalization and away from generalization. Moreover, these technologies began to develop what felt like personalized responses, creating the perception that the computer knew certain things about the user and contributing to the feeling of being intertwined with the device. This chapter emphasizes that close relationships with technology and digitally mediated relationships are not a new phenomenon, even though they are often treated as such.
The subsequent chapters, Chapters 2 through 6, explore the factors contributing to a seeming “obsession” with personal media and specifically mobile phones. Monteiro argues that we feel increasingly close to phones and other personal devices, owing to such features as proximity, facial recognition, automated responses, algorithms, vibrations, and haptics. These features give us a false sense of connection by mirroring human actions, while still performing as a machine. For example, our devices know us by name, they have our location, and they send us personalized messages and notifications based on our scrolling and liking habits. Through these features, these devices can be understood as creating familiarity and influencing users’ everyday actions.
Chapters 3 and 4, “The Right Touch” and “Face to Face,” examine how physical interactions create a relationship between the user and the device. For example, through facial recognition and vibrations, the user’s body becomes intertwined with the device, with the device acting as an “extension of the user’s body.” Monteiro suggests that the constant physical closeness to the device can lead to a feeling of incompleteness when the device is not near. Similarly, Chapters 5 and 6, “Sensing a Presence” and “Nurturing Dependence,” zero in on the power imbalance between the technology and the user, including dependence on devices and patterns in how people interact with them. These final chapters aid in supporting the claims made in earlier sections, offering possible explanations of how and when these relationships shifted and what this could mean for future advances in personal networked media.
Needy Media and its findings make valuable contributions to mobile media and communication and adjacent fields. It will be of interest for those studying habits, media effects, or media behaviors, particularly as Monteiro explores how our devices may shape our thinking, inform our decisions, and alter the way we speak and interact with others. By examining user practices and habits, we can better understand how to align media habits with social norms. This book is suited for a generalist audience.
Topics
Media consumption, personalized media, technology, psychological elements, communication, companionship, interpersonal communication, smartphones, computers, algorithms, dopamine, social media, screentime, and public influence.
