Graduation Semester and Year

2016

Language

English

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts in English

Department

English

First Advisor

Timothy Richardson

Abstract

The smart phone, or mobile device, holds a preeminent role in a technologically advanced society. These devices allow for connection, productivity, and distraction, and in doing so create new anxieties and underscore old ones. By tracing the provenance of this artifact, we see how our relationship with mobile devices amplifies our relationship with technology as a whole. This thesis examines the development of the mobile device from the viewpoints of social constructivism and technogenesis to illustrate how our increasing intimacy with these devices is part of a long-standing pattern of co-evolution between humans and the technologies they create.

Keywords

Mobile device, Technogenesis, Technology, New materialism, Philosophy of technology, Social constructivism, Cyborgs, Subject-object relationship

Disciplines

Arts and Humanities | English Language and Literature

Comments

Degree granted by The University of Texas at Arlington

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