IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Winter 2013 - 38

due to certain structures (primarily
the replacement of service staff in
industry with algorithms), people
are forced to go online to complete
processes vital to their livelihoods.

activated per every live birth
worldwide, with a forecast for 8
billion live mobile subscriptions
around the world in just 4 years.
This is more than the forecasted

Urban users of mobile technologies
have expanded relations with people
they know but weaken already
tenuous local ties with neighbors,
vendors, and service providers.
For a prosumer, the choice upon
the consumer whether or not to
participate in the "labor process"
is largely still available [12]. with
forced compliance, there is no
choice or alternate to processes
that are only available online and
must be engaged with. Thus, forced
compliance shares a foundation
with the prosumer, but differs in its
lack of choice of experience for the
individual. The only choice for the
individual in having "forced labor"
in forced compliance is when
(within a time frame) that person is
required to complete that labor task.
Thus, they have some flexibility to
do those processes asynchronously.
It is the outcome from this lack
of choice for labor for forced compliance that contributes, in part,
to the adaptation of asynchronicity. The unintended consequence
of complications from the asynchronicity that is created from the
various configurations that emerge
from, in part, this multiplexed
behavior. The complexity of these
relationships can only multiply
with the growth of smartphone
market share.
Indicators suggest that smartphones will soon have larger market share [13] than regular mobile
phones. At the CTIA wireless
Association conference in 2011 in
Orlando, Florida, Hans Vestberg,
CEO of Ericsson quoted statistics
that predicted that mobile phones
will be sold at the rate of 3 phones
38

world population, which means
multiple parties will own multiple
devices for connectivity [13]. In
the U.S., "38% (of people) now
own smartphones ... 55% of those
who purchased a new handset in
the past three months reported
buying a smartphone instead of
a feature phone, up from 34% in
2010" [14]. Furthermore, with the
Internet of Things (the idea that
many physical objects will have
some form of Internet connectivity via sensors and actuators)
beginning to develop, the number
of devices connected to the network is expected to surpass 50 billion within 10 years [13].
Most of the early examples
of modern life migrating to the
network were motived by perceived cost advantages. Initially
companies balked at the expense
of offering online services, but
they soon realized that indeed,
the technology would be cost
saving. In 1996, an article in the
New York Times suggested that
banks, "dream that if they can
get enough customers to do business over computers, they will be
able to close more of their real
branches, pruning more employees in the process" [15].

Forced Compliance
Over time, as many local businesses, governments, banks, and
other institutions have implemented
cost saving procedures of moving

their business online, the onus has
fallen onto individuals to take up
the slack of tasks that were once
fulfilled by firms. This automation
has forced many people to become
their own data administrators,
which has impacted their lives and
time in new ways. The shift from
physical labor to quantified data
has created more admin work, as
things become more measured, and
more activities, tasks and records
are available. Much time is spent
by people trying to circumvent data
systems that are not programmed
to adequately handle their questions or that are unable to address
use cases "outside the box." The
automation that has saved companies billions of dollars, has now
cost people hours and hours of their
personal time spent managing data,
troubleshooting poorly designed or
incomplete software, as they try to
interact with digital systems that
have taken the place previously
occupied by a person.
Although automation can be
attributed to many sources, perhaps as companies instill cost cutting measures, one result is that
much of the labor force has shifted
not offshore, but slowly and imperceptibly, to individual persons. In
some cases, the irony is abundant.
For example, Bank of America's (BofA) contact information,
including their phone lines, with
multiple numbers for various banking functions-is all found on their
website, which requires computer
access, and a click through of more
than one screen [16]. BofA has
also implemented a "free checking account," that is free as long as
customers "never again enter the
bank." One small concession is that
BofA will still allow coin deposits
or service related questions without
a fee. According to BofA, a third
of their new customers are requesting the new account [17]. That said,
the customers who want accounts
that utilize branch and teller services (even for a fee) are still forced
online to find at the very least,

IEEE TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY MAGAZINE

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