Peter Stringer, Director of Interactive Media at the Boston Celtics, wrote an excellent and extensive piece on what 9/11 would have been like in a social media world.
As we reflect on the past ten years, we can see that technology has evolved and become more centered in its use in our lives. Stringer looks at how different the events on 9/11 would have been with today’s technology. Another example of technology’s effect on our lives.
Here are some key contrasts between 2001 and today:
- Text messaging was practically non-existent.
- Smartphones? In 2001, they barely used PDA’s!
- Camera phone? Today, smartphones have a high-res lens.
- Twitter? Facebook? Gmail?
Imagine all those busy signals and misdirected phone calls of those looking for loved ones would have found their family member’s and friend’s updated Facebook status a great comfort; or maybe a horrific memorial as the final minutes of being stuck in the Twin Towers would have lead to a fury of tweets, Facebook status’ and YouTube farewells?
Remember the missing persons signs plastered all over lower Manhattan in the weeks after 9/11? I’m guessing a lot of that activity would have happened on Facebook, given its viral capabilities. Unfortunately, for those lost and their loved ones, the results wouldn’t have been any different. But those messages, limited to street corners in 2001, would have been shared front and center in our News Feeds across the globe.
As for the tragedy itself, imagine how more documented the entire event would have been with smartphone cameras alone. So many locations, angles and perspectives would have captured and broadcast as the events unfolded.
9/11 In A Social Media World: How The Times Have Changed is an insightful reflection on 9/11 and how technology sculpts the experiences of our lives.
Give it a read and tell me what you think.
[via BostInnovation | Image via Jason Powell]
Chris Ames says
I worked on the 7th floor of an office complex on Sept 11th, 2001. We didn’t have access to a TV and I didn’t know anyone with a radio. I had heard about an airplane striking the first tower on my way to work, but I had no idea what was really going on.
My first clue was technology. I couldn’t hit any of the major news sites. They were all getting pounded, I presume, by white collar desk jockeys like me. Do you remember trying to make a phone call that day? “I’m sorry, all circuits are busy.”
Not being able to find news online, and not being able to make simple phones calls was pretty unnerving and, after talking to others around the office (which was starting to become a ghost town), I went home by lunch.
If this would have happened today, I doubt much would be different. All the major news sites, phone networks, and social networks would be pounded by 10x the usual traffic. Most would buckle under the weight, and we’d all go home by lunch, be together with family and loved ones, and watch commercial-free broadcast news.
Eric Dye says
I think you’re right, Chis, we would see servers falling like domino’s.
Antoine RJ Wright says
I guess I am one of a few that didn’t see tech in the same light as the cited article. As a USAmerican, I *was* using email (Yahoo and Excite at the time) just as much, if not more than GMail is used now. I didn’t have a mobile, having given it up many months before because of my limited budget as a college student. I did have a PDA (Probably using the Palm IIIxe at the time, maybe even the M515), and I also was on news websites just as much as I was leading those in my dorm to be on different tv stations as I decoded the messages of the moment (things changed at approx 935 from amazement to a terroism-war message).
Outside of the speed of information, there’s not much that would have changed. The fact that people just barely know the tech channels enough to use them now is a bigger change more than the nameplates of what’s available.
A better, or perhaps more humbling viewpoint would be to frame our understanding of the events that happened then with those that happened at Pearl Harbor and how people might have been notified, effected, etc as the technology of that time dispersed the information of the moment.
Eric Dye says
A Pearl Harbor comparison would have certainly been interesting.
Adam Shields says
My wife was working as an elementary computer lab teacher. I had set up all donated computers in the lab the year before and finally she had some newer computers. I came in that day to work on them with her. So I had a whole row of computers hitting different news sites trying to get something up. They turned the computer lab into the news room so kids could watch some of it, but not be too inundated. We were just a couple miles south of downtown Chicago and a fair number of the kids lived in high rises. So there were a lot of freaked out kids. But TV was the only things that worked reliably.
Like Chris, I wonder what would happen now. We are even more dependent on the internet for all our communications. So the things would probably be even more difficult now than then.
Eric Dye says
Great story, Adam. Thanks for sharing, man. I agree with you and Chris. I wonder if the whole system would crash.
Phillip Gibb says
I think that is 9/11 happened now there will be a lot of people more interested in trying to be the first to post online rather than help or just get to safety
Eric Dye says
Sad to say, but this may be true. :-/
Jonathan Ober says
This is ‘fact’ … people would be more likely to take out their phones and record and upload and then help. Though I know very little about even the basic first aid, aside from stopping wounds from bleeding, etc. I would hope that in a moments notice I would be the one taking my belt and turning into a tourniquet or covering a wound with a shirt.