PHONING AWAY POVERTY?

This blog entry by Elaine Touch
The story: "Can the Cell Phone Help End Global Poverty?"

The analysis:

"Can the cell phone end global poverty?" This is the question of intrigue for New York Times writer Sara Barett who writes of her experience in which she shadowed the travels of Jan Chipchase, a human- behavior researcher for telecommunications giant Nokia. Also sometimes referred to as a "user anthropologist", Chipchase has spent the last seven years traveling into developing countries like India, Vietnam, and even the African nation of Mubami, to "peer" into lives of natives from housewives to indentured servants, to small business farmers, and study their behaviors. This "data" is then relayed back to Nokia's design and marketing department, where the information is deconstructed to develop the most profitable strategies for turning these foreign natives into transnational consumers.

According to the article, "putting a Nokia in to the hands of people" who make $4 a day, has not been a hard sell at all. In fact, by the end of 2006, according to the International Telecommunications Union, 68% of the world's 3 billion cell phone subscriptions were from developing countries. Economic scholars and researchers of world poverty alike are discovering that more and more families are spending their limited income on cell phones and computers "before other basic needs". Among other things"[cell-phone] user anthropologists" are also finding that the world's working poor are realizing how cell phones can not only increase their productivity from an economic standpoint but improve their overall well being as well. For such people finding work is no longer the job in itself, but rather, because of the convenience of the cell phone, work now finds them. What's more the cell phone has also been shown to serve as a crucial item in times of crisis, such as separation and displacement in times of war. During such times, the cell phone (especially its text messaging capabilities) has not only allowed loved ones to remain connected, but it has also helped such people to stay alive by functioning as the sole means of getting information.

While Jan Chipchase, the "user anthropologist" for Nokia, attempted to make strong argument for the promising possibilities of universal cell-phone usage, I found his arguments and certain illustrations in the article somewhat ludicrous and even upsetting. While there were some positive aspects to the article's argument of cell phone usage such as those mentioned above, there were some things that I just did not agree with. In one illustration both the Times journalist and Chipchase run into a group of Mongolian monks, most of whom had cell phones and even Bluetooth devices! What's more, when asked about the questionable nature of this situation, Chipchase contends that the monks had become so reliant to their cell phones that they would even put up a fight for their phones if someone tried to take them away! Another jaw-dropper in the article was the mentioning of the development and construction of solar-powered cell phone towers in "remote areas" that didn't have any electricity! This just makes me shake my head in disbelief because in this very same area, people have yet to have access to system that provides them with clean water! Yes, many exclamation points indeed because this article disregards mentioning the living conditions of many of these people. The world press has been alerted----Jan Chipchase and Nokia have discovered the cure for global poverty and its side effects (TB, malaria, AIDS, war, etc...)---CELL PHONES!!! My critique may be melodramatic for some, but read the article; it is definitely not possible to finish it without feeling slightly offended.