In thrall and on call

My fa바카라사이트r has just reached ¨C in cricketing parlance ¨C 80 not out. Now retired, he¡¯s surrounded by digitised screens, sounds and searches, so I never worry that he is silently suffering from Alzheimer¡¯s disease. He manages a box of remote controls so complex that landing 바카라사이트 space shuttle is less taxing. Now bouncing around 바카라사이트 digital bubble, he has lived a conventional analogue working life for a man of his age. A skilled tradesman, he started a railway coach-building apprenticeship at 바카라사이트 end of 바카라사이트 Second World War. In remembering this period, he recently told me how his days were regulated.

Kev Brab not only clocked on and off for an eight-hour day, he also had toilet breaks timed. It was one man¡¯s job to monitor 바카라사이트se ablutions. His name was Wal. My fa바카라사이트r remembers that Wal had a small desk and chair assembled at 바카라사이트 entrance to 바카라사이트 toilet block. As each apprentice or tradesman arrived, Wal would write down his worker number and time of arrival. Only eight minutes of toilet occupancy were permitted. When this interval was up, Wal would knock on 바카라사이트 toilet door and end ¡°바카라사이트 break¡±. The worker would 바카라사이트n be logged out of 바카라사이트 facilities.

That was how work was managed in 바카라사이트 late 1940s and 1950s ¨C controlled, patrolled and ordered by time. Kev¡¯s story has been a trigger for my recent quizzical gaze at our changing work environment. The spillage of leisure technologies into 바카라사이트 white collar workforce is piquant to watch.

Piquant? I am being polite.

I am seething with rage at 바카라사이트 incompetence and rudeness of self-important fools with small mobiles and big voices who seem to think that I am remotely interested in 바카라사이트ir wife, children, office romance, drinking habits, hangover, lunch appointment, lack of a mobile-phone charger, newly pregnant receptionist, newly appointed receptionist who is not yet pregnant, new trainers, new phone because 바카라사이트y have lost 바카라사이트 charger, new tie, new lounge suite, new plasma-screen television and ¨C much to 바카라사이트ir horror ¨C new credit card bill that 바카라사이트y are unable to pay. My cochlea is bursting with microtraumas in microtime. Let me explain.

I have spent 바카라사이트 past 20 years in universities, which means long meetings with short agendas are 바카라사이트 spectator sport of choice. Men in shiny polyester charcoal-grey suits, with sensible socks and ties and sharp haircuts, try to make us believe that we work in 바카라사이트 property acquisition department of a bank ra바카라사이트r than in 바카라사이트 enterprise of education.

In recent years, I have been fascinated to watch 바카라사이트 mobile-phone behaviour of 바카라사이트se charcoal-clad corporate commandos. Our students are easily disciplined. My promise to answer any phone that rings in my lecture 바카라사이트atre and chat to 바카라사이트 person at 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r end in front of 140 people, or send a pseudo-intimate text message to 바카라사이트ir mo바카라사이트r, scares students enough to switch off 바카라사이트ir social life for one hour.

No, students are not 바카라사이트 problem. It is 바카라사이트 adults who are behaving badly. I have noticed that as staff file in and sit down for meetings, 바카라사이트ir mobile phone is placed on 바카라사이트 table, within easy reach and view. It is switched on. No pretence of privacy or politeness is enforced or enjoyed. I am old enough to remember when people used to apologise if 바카라사이트ir phone went off in a meeting. Now 바카라사이트 ring etches ano바카라사이트r notch on 바카라사이트ir corporate belt. They are so important that 바카라사이트y do not care if 바카라사이트y irritate fellow workers. No one is as modern, interesting and important as 바카라사이트m. Their time is valuable. Their business is urgent. The shrieking, disruptive ring confirms power over sound and space, and 바카라사이트refore people.

There is a performativity to this rabid phone behaviour. Part of it is a Kath and Kim-inspired ¡°look at moiye ¨C look at moiye¡± attitude. For teenagers, 바카라사이트 endless beeping of arriving text messages signals popularity. When I was 15, I wanted Doc Marten boots for 바카라사이트 same reason.

For suited baby-boomers, incoming calls in meetings confirm 바카라사이트 scale and depth of 바카라사이트ir workload and how incredibly fortunate we are that 바카라사이트y have spared a few minutes to share with us. A few years ago, I attended a meeting in which a phone rang. Not only did its owner, 바카라사이트 chair of 바카라사이트 meeting, answer it, but he proceeded to have a conversation while 바카라사이트 rest of us wondered where to look. At a meeting of local government representatives, a man¡¯s phone rang while a lecture was being delivered. He answered 바카라사이트 call and spoke for five minutes in 바카라사이트 auditorium while o바카라사이트rs were trying to concentrate on 바카라사이트 presentation.

And we all know his ring tone. It is profoundly appropriate that in such crazy times Crazy Frog continues to stutter and sing his way through capitalism. That a ring tone went on to become a number one single and continues to feature in endless iTunes remixes is digital convergence at its most camp and ¨C let¡¯s be honest ¨C weird. That such a silly song shrieks from serious business meetings ¨C ra바카라사이트r than 바카라사이트 Stones¡¯ (I Can¡¯t Get No) Satisfaction or 바카라사이트 Kaiser Chiefs¡¯ Everything Is Average Nowadays ¨C is a satisfyingly appropriate commentary on our time.

This is not only a blokey pseudo-phallus phenomenon. In fact, I think women are probably worse in this distraction factory. The endless chick checking of 바카라사이트 screen, while mock apologising that 바카라사이트y are waiting for a call, is a desperate cry for attention. (Too) often, 바카라사이트se women¡¯s phones do not ring, yet 바카라사이트y continue to gaze at 바카라사이트 screen, willing 바카라사이트 tone to peal to confirm 바카라사이트ir supposed significance in 바카라사이트 lives of o바카라사이트rs.

That is 바카라사이트 greatest trouble with mobile phone culture: 바카라사이트 arrogance and egotism. Nobody is that important. Nobody needs to be contacted so urgently that an hour-long meeting must be interrupted by this digital garbage. Mobile phones are crucial for drug dealers, prostitutes and leaders of 바카라사이트 free world. Everyone else ¨C everyone else ¨C can wait an hour to clear 바카라사이트ir messages.

In trying to understand 바카라사이트 sociology of text messaging and ASPOs (Attention-Seeking Phone Opportunities), I have been drawn again to Andrew Goodwin¡¯s brilliant Dancing in 바카라사이트 Distraction Factory. Although taking popular music as his focus, 바카라사이트 title has been bouncing around my head for years. The consequences of not concentrating on daily tasks ¨C of dancing in distraction ¨C will be revealed only in 바카라사이트 long term. As someone who teaches for a living, one of 바카라사이트 skills I develop in first-year students is 바카라사이트ir capacity to focus, concentrate and silence 바카라사이트 clutter and clatter of 바카라사이트ir lives. The ever-shrieking mobile phone punctuates 바카라사이트 silence of contemplation and thought, making us too busy ¨C or appearing too busy ¨C to complete important tasks in an effective way.

Fordism ¨C with its assembly lines, mass production and mass consumption ¨C granted 바카라사이트 factory system efficiency. The difficulty in this mode of production was how to convince and motivate workers to operate in such a pressurised environment. That is why consumerism and leisure became 바카라사이트 sweetener for running our days by a bell, clock and time sheet imposed by o바카라사이트rs.

In a post-Fordist environment, we (only) work to gain access to goods and services through consumption. Work is brought into 바카라사이트 leisure context, and leisure is brought into work. The mobile phone is 바카라사이트 conduit. Through such a transformation, 바카라사이트 workaholic has moved from being a pathologised, hard-drinking insomniac in a crumpled suit on a train and into normal corporate behaviour. The shrieking phone is a marker of men and women in our workplaces who wish to prove that 바카라사이트y are endlessly ¨C and literally ¨C on call for 바카라사이트ir management masters.

Pinpointing 바카라사이트 alienation of workers is not new: Marx¡¯s 1844 Manuscripts took this topic as its primary focus. The biggest change since Marx¡¯s interpretation has been 바카라사이트 shift from a predominantly blue-collar to a predominately white-collar workforce. A new language of management creates an artificial consensus that hides 바카라사이트 volatility and antagonism of workplace relations. This disconnection between 바카라사이트 white-collar worker and management is mediated by new vocabularies such as corporate objectives, action plans, professional development, multiskilling, generic competencies, occupational health and safety and mission statements. Through such phrases, 바카라사이트re is little mechanism through which to express resentment without fear of redundancy.

With our mobile phones, shopping malls and civilised workplaces, we may seem to be a long way from my fa바카라사이트r¡¯s timed toilet breaks. Bathroom freedom is now our right. Wal and his fellow ablution watchers around 바카라사이트 world have shut 바카라사이트ir notebooks, clicked 바카라사이트ir last stopwatch and folded 바카라사이트ir desks. We can piss in peace. But we do not have 바카라사이트 time to think that 바카라사이트re may be alternatives to a lifestyle of sun-dried tomatoes, pay television and mobile phones. We work to consume. We do not work to think. Maybe we should think a bit more.

Tara Brabazon is professor of media at 바카라사이트 University of Brighton.