"So the system of mobile communication enables the blurring, mixing, and recomposing of a variety of social practices in a variety of time/space contexts. But the blurring process is not undetermined. It is centered on the communicating individual. So it is an individually centered production of the material and social process of communication. In so doing, networks of individual interaction tend to free themselves from organizations, institutions, norms, and material constraints, on the basis of personal convenience and suitability to individual projects. As a result, there is an extraordinary strengthening of the culture of individualism (meaning the primacy of individual projects and interests over the norms of society or reference groups) [...]
One consequence of this development is that traditional norms of courtesy have to be redefined in the new context. Since people build their own private space by simply ignoring others around them, a new m-etiquette (and its implicit norms of cultural domination) is struggling to be adopted, specifying when it is proper to isolate oneself from the social environment and when it is not, when it is acceptable to expose one’s personal life in the middle of an audience of strangers and when it is not, or when pupils can talk to or e-mail their buddies in the classroom and when they cannot."
You know how else you could have said that? Watch this.
"So, mobile communication allows blurring of when you can and should talk to others. Corollary to that fact is that this blurring is centered on the fact that individuals are making choices as to when they talk or produce content for others. So, with all of that in mind, there has been an on-going struggle to figure out when you are allowed to isolate yourself and when you need to be connected."
That's three, admittedly poorly constructed, sentences that contain his entire message!
UGH! Don't mistake my frustration at wordiness for dislike. Manuel Castells' work is actually quite thrilling and enlightening if you have any interest in the subject matter, which is best described as Media and Communication Sociology. I really enjoy the message of his work, but I wish he would write 3 sentences for a 3 sentence thought.
