Smart swarms: some observations on contagion and cohesion in cell-phone society

Abstract

Swarming is a new kind of collective behaviour involving leaderless formations converging as data-gathering, action-oriented entities in physical and cyberspace. It differs from the classical crowd in terms of its proclivity towards data mediation and its susceptibility to informational contagion. Swarms may form to fulfil certain goals or simply as a type of mimetic collective. Either way, various levels of cohesion bring swarming members together as short-lived aggregations in media-saturated environments. The cell-phone as a feature of these environments has come to play an important role in the emergence of swarming. Not only is the cell-phone a facilitator of swarming, but it is also a medium for cohesion among swarming members. Researching cell-phone use casts new light on mobile communication as well as its relationship to swarming in media-saturated environments.

Keywords:

• cell-phones
• cohesion
• connectivity
• contagion
• swarms

Notes on contributor

Raymond Lee is an independent researcher of modernity, mass society, and collective behaviour. His previous work in this area has appeared in Southeast Asian Journal of Social Science, Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, International Review of Sociology, and Distinktion. He previously taught at the University of Malaya.

Notes

1. Cellular or cell-phones are alternatively known as mobile phones. The newer generation of cell-phones is called smart-phones due to their wide range of multitasking functions that now include apps delivering the combined effects of location-based services and self-descriptive texting (Amphonphong et al. 2014). These phones have become so common that their centrality to everyday life is now simply taken for granted (Ling 2012) and blurring the divide between connectivity and collectivity. However, issues concerning health hazards in cell-phone use have yet to make a significant impact on the public (e.g. Carlo and Schram 2001; Cooper 2009; Davis 2010). The possibility of future reactions to these issues may redraw the topology of cell-phone use and realign the relationship between connectivity and collectivity.

2. A recent survey of cell-phone users in 66 countries showed that six of the top ten spots were located in Asia (Wikipedia 2013). These countries in descending order of the number of subscriptions were China, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Japan, and Bangladesh. In terms of proportional phone ownership, Hong Kong was placed second (187.9 phones per 100 citizens) to Panama (202.5 phones per 100 citizens).

3. Stephen King (2007) in his dystopian novel Cell parodies this contrast between majority users and minority non-users. In the novel, a strange pulse becomes the contagion that transforms all cell-phone users into zombies swarming into towns and cities throughout the U.S. to rampage on non-users who fight back against all odds. Interestingly, King depicts swarming as a type digitalized mesmerization that unites users who have lost all their rational sensibilities.

4. Cell-phone mimesis may not always require physical proximity for transference of cues. Users may sometimes ‘learn’ cell-phone versatility from others without direct or face-to-face contact. For instance, some Malaysian drivers now solve their parking problems by double-parking and leaving their cell-phone numbers on the dashboard or the side-window. Owners of blocked vehicles are expected to summon on their cell-phones the co-operation of the callous driver. This type of parking behaviour has spread not only by tacit understandings in personal encounters but also by the widespread awareness of expedient reachability in cell-phone use.