A free online eBook (PDF) that looks at what a smartphone is and understand its consequences for people’s lives around the world. The smartphone is often literally right in front of our nose, so you would think we would know what it is. But do we? To find out, 11 anthropologists each spent 16 months living in communities in Africa, Asia, Europe and South America, focusing on the take up of smartphones by older people. Their research reveals that smartphones are technology for everyone, not just for the young. The Global Smartphone presents a series of original perspectives deriving from this global and comparative research project. Smartphones have become as much a place within which we live as a device we use to provide ‘perpetual opportunism’, as they are always with us. The authors show how the smartphone is more than an ‘app device’ and explore differences between what people say about smartphones and how they use them. The smartphone is unprecedented in the degree to which we can transform it. As a result, it quickly assimilates personal values. In order to comprehend it, we must take into consideration a range of national and cultural nuances, such as visual communication in China and Japan, mobile money in Cameroon and Uganda, and access to health information in Chile and Ireland – all alongside diverse trajectories of ageing in Al Quds, Brazil and Italy. Only then can we know what a smartphone is and understand its consequences for people’s lives around the world. Written in jargon-free, accessible English and available for free, online at UCL Press here: https://www.uclpress.co.uk/collections/series-ageing-with-smartphones/products/171335 Also available in, French, Spanish, Arabic, Italian, Portuguese and Japanese.

Free online MOOC to develop students undersatnding of how smartphones have transformed our lives and how they can be used productively. Available on FutureLearn here: https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/an-anthropology-of-smartphones Discover digital anthropology and the relationship between technology and ageing This course will develop your understanding of the concept of digital anthropology as you explore how smartphones have transformed our daily lives and how they can be used productively. Learn how smartphones have changed our lives Through ethnographic research findings, you’ll explore the potential consequences of using a smartphone every day. You’ll examine the effect of smartphones on human relationships and participation in cultural life, as well as touch upon the current use and future potential of smartphones in the health and medical sector. Understand the concept of smart ageing and the relationship between older people and technology Smartphones are no longer a youth technology. They play a significant role in intergenerational relations and define ageing in the digital era. You’ll learn about the issues older people encounter when using smartphones and how technology has shaped models of ageing. Using the latest research, you’ll find out more about ageing in different global contexts and learn how technology is shaping and changing the experience of ageing. Discover the effect of smartphone use through the lens of digital anthropology The course demonstrates the potential of anthropology as a discipline and will introduce you to the technicalities of using comparative anthropology as a method of research. It also includes several new anthropological perspectives on the use of the smartphone and its impact on people’s lives. Explore digital anthropology with UCL’s expert team UCL is a leading research hub in the area of digital anthropology. You’ll access the latest research and insights from UCL’s expert academics on fascinating anthropological concepts and issues, including digital health and ageing. Available on FutureLearn here: https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/an-anthropology-of-smartphones