New Media & the Spectacle

The Spectacle is not a collection of images; it is a social relationship between people that is mediated by images.
-Guy Debord

I wouldn't have expected that the next step in communication and mediation would be quite so text based. I have vague memories of pulling up what would become webpages in text only, pine email reading, ASCII art, all this along with a 1200 or 2400 baud modem. Now still and moving images cover the internet and are beginning to creep into cell phones (both peer-to-peer (picture phone messaging) and mass media (Verizon's V-Cast).

To be honest, I never would have expected the next step in communications to increase the amount of textual communication available to people. However this is, again, an opt-in communication stream (raising increased concern for factionalism) and I'm not convinced that a large enough proportion of society will do so. I'll also put this thought forward: as the internet becomes increasingly commercialized what are the prospects for continued openness?

Is it a matter of time before our cell phones (sorry, mobile phones, cell systems are so 1989) start to send us coupons, as I've seen others talk about? I've read some of the articles referred to and if Starbucks sent me a message on my phone promising me a free cookie if I stopped in (like they would wait until I was in the store! If I'm already in the store they've got me!) I would, no doubt need a four dollar coffee to go with it.

How should the corporate interests implement this? Two words: incremental action.