Today, almost everybody owns a cell phone. The cell phone usage has increased in a short span and spread to everywhere in the world. In the United States alone approximately 233 million people own a cell phone. Without the cell phone, many people would feel cut out this world. Cellphones have become the basic need in communication among people all over the world. People also use cellphones voice recorders, diaries, alarm clocks, watches and surfing the internet among many other things. With the advancements in technology, cell phones have developed to greater heights to a point of becoming mobile computers. Cellphones have had a major impact on the lives of people today by changing how people perform their daily tasks. Additionally, cellphones have brought a whom new meaning to multitasking today as people can do more than ten tasks using their phones at the same time. Keeping in touch at all times is one of the main advantages of using cellphones. Therefore, the usage of cell phones has changed the society and the everyday life of many people all over the world.
Culture and the social classes are one of the primary interests of the Marxist theorists today. Karl Marx did not focus on the issues of culture, but rather emphasized on the economic and political factors ( Goldstein, 2005) . The Marxist theory focuses on the issues of the political, economic, and social principles as well as policies that Karl Marx proposed. Marx sought to understand how a capitalistic society works regarding whom it benefits the most and whom it benefits the least ( Goldstein, 2005) . Marx also looked at the feudalism that arose due to the differences in benefits in the society. Marx recognized the struggles that were brought about by the issue of Capitalism in the society that led to a struggle between two classes, the capitalist, and the workers. The capitalists own the productive resources while the workers have towards to survive. The Marxist theory analyzed this struggle.
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Technology has made us dependent upon the Internet for school, work, and play. Computers and cell phones as some of the examples of technology that impact people’s lives significantly today. Unfortunately, because of all the advancements, the technology advancements seem to favor the technologically elite who seem to have the upper hand when it comes to useful gadgets ( Levine, 2012) . The technological advancements such as smartphones and computers leave out people with no technical know-how. The technological advancements leave out the older generation since most of them are not yet familiar or cannot keep up with the technology that keeps on changing every day. For example, the Mac computers, which are entirely different from the traditional computers regarding how they are operated, thus making it difficult to use for people who are not familiar with this technology. Cell phones are also advancing each year with the production of smartphones with advanced applications. People who are comfortable using the traditional phones have a difficult time transitioning to the new phones. Since technology changes every day, people need to learn to keep up. The difference in cell phone prices also alienates the poor from the rich. The rich are likely to own stronger and powerful cellphones than the poor.
Technology is used to enslave people instead of liberating them. The Marxist analysis explains that the society needs to develop productive forces that will help intensify the people’s knowledge over nature and reduce the necessity of using labor ( Goldstein, 2005) . The theory also mentions that people should develop their lifestyles and raise the standards of living. Marx argues that by developing socially, people will also develop their consciousness ( Levine, 2012) . Therefore, innovation and technology are indeed suitable for the development of the society, but the capitalism that comes with such technological advancements ( Goldstein, 2005) . People are still experiencing colossal unemployment rates as the rich become richer. People are often enslaved and alienated by the technological advancements as in this case the technology of cell phones. Cellphones are made of different materials most of which is mined. The cell phone manufacturing companies exploit workers in the mineral extraction places and even with the millions they get from the sale of cellphones the mineral workers are poorly paid. The hardware assemblers, the software engineers, professional, online content creators, call center agents and social media prosumers are some of the people alienated by the development and advancement of cellphone technology.
The Marxist theory of alienation can be seen in the used of cellphones. Today people over depend on cell phones for their daily use. While there are many benefits of cellphones such as communication, entertainment and surfing the internet, cell phones can also be a source of slavery in the society. In digital labor which is done by corporate social media, users are objectively alienated ( Stevens, 2017) . The alienation happens as the users are forced to isolation and social disadvantages if they leave the corporate social media such as Facebook and Twitter. Today cell phones are mainly used on social media by millions of people in the world ( Stevens, 2017) . Most people communicate through social media, therefore, if they leave the social media platforms they will not be able to communicate with people as they used and they might be left out in the trending topics in the society ( Mandel & Novack, 1973) . Regarding the instruments of labor, the social media platforms are owned by private companies that commodify the usage data by the users of social media ( Stevens, 2017) . Therefore, if a person has no data bundles, they cannot access the platform. Similarly, if they have no airtime, they cannot communicate with others using the phones ( Stevens, 2017) . Additionally, the profits made by the use of cellphones are controlled by the platform’s owners ( Mandel & Novack, 1973) . The owners continue to become more prosperous as the users and workers continue being poor.
While Karl Marx in the Marxist and neo-Marxist approaches think in terms of struggle, oppression, and liberation, Stiegler uses a different approach to human technology relations which offer a new turn in understanding the new technology today ( Verbeek, 2017) . Stiegler attributes the scuffle between people and technology to be constitutive for the humankind ( Verbeek, 2017) . This means that technology is a part of the human condition and we cannot live without it. therefore, explaining people are addicted to technology such as what we see in cell phone usage today. Cellphones have become our livelihood and people barely stay for ten minutes without needing the cellphones to do something for them. This over dependency on the cellphones and digital technologies has created a new proletariat or the “cognitariat” whereby the technologies often lead to the control of production and consumption which instead of liberating the people, they end up enslaving them ( Verbeek, 2017) . Consequently, people become non-resistant as they feel they need to adapt to technologies so that they can fight the emerging and increasing totalitarian capitalism ( Verbeek, 2017) . Therefore, most fights are seen by the usage of cellphone and the internet. Since most cell phones today can access the internet, most struggles against large companies are for instance started as hashtags on social media.
Albeit there is a certain growing dependence on the large cellphone and information technology companies such as Apple and Google and on their merchandise, which have enormous impact in the people’s daily livelihoods, these technologies can be a source of the new social activity and self-awareness in the society ( Verbeek, 2017) . It is undeniable that the cell phone technology has challenged the way people think, concentrate and innovate. Moreover, cellphones have been a source of new forms of political awareness leading to revolutions such as the famous Facebook revolution that happened during the Arab Uprising ( Verbeek, 2017) . The use of cellphones to communicate has changed the way people shape the political, economic and social engagements.
In conclusion, Cellphones have had a major impact on the lives of people today by changing how people perform their daily tasks. Technology has made us dependent upon the Internet for school, work, and play. Computers and cell phones as some of the examples of technology that impact people’s lives significantly. The difference in cell phone prices also alienates the poor from the rich. The rich are likely to own stronger and powerful cellphones than the poor. While there are many benefits of cellphones such as communication, entertainment and surfing the internet, cell phones can also be a source of slavery in the society. In digital labor which is done by corporate social media, users are objectively alienated. The alienation happens as the users are forced to isolation and social disadvantages if they leave the corporate social media such as Facebook and Twitter. Technology is a part of the human condition, and we cannot live without it. Therefore, explaining people are addicted to technology such as what we see in cell phone usage today. This over dependency on the cellphones and digital technologies has created a new proletariat who have been made slaves by the technology. Nevertheless, it is undeniable that the cell phone technology has challenged the way people think, concentrate and innovate. Moreover, cellphones have been a source of new forms of political awareness leading to revolutions such as the famous Facebook revolution that happened during the Arab Uprising. Evidently, the Marxist theory can be used to explain the impact of the cell phone usage in the world which has been on the increase recently.
References
Goldstein, P. (2005). Post-Marxist theory: An introduction (SUNY series in postmodern culture). Albany: State University of New York Press.
Levine, A. (2012). Marxist and Socialist Approaches. The Oxford Handbook of Political Philosophy, The Oxford Handbook of Political Philosophy.
Mandel, E., & Novack, George Edward. (1973). The Marxist theory of alienation; three essays (2d ed.]. ed.). New York: Pathfinder Press.
Stevens, A. (2017). Cyber-Proletariat: Global Labour in the Digital Vortex. Labour, (79), 305-307.
Verbeek, P. (2017). The Struggle for Technology: Towards a Realistic Political Theory of Technology. Foundations of Science, 22(2), 301-304.
