Nurullah Ardic

This paper explores how the cell phone figures in the re-definition or the re-negotiation of the distinction between public and private spaces in Turkey. Based on my research on cell phone use among young professionals in Istanbul, Turkey, I argue that the significance of the cell phone lies in its capacity to transform the body into a private space, and insert this private space right into the public one, embedding these two realms within each other; and that this embeddedness in turn blurs the border between the two, leading to the “privatization of the public” and the “publicization of the private”. I first investigate the cell phone’s relation to three theoretical fields, including the relationships between technology and society; the interaction between information and communication technologies and everyday life; the distinction between public and private spaces. Then I examine the cell phone as a techno-cultural artifact and the implications of its use in everyday life settings. I also try to conceptualize the creation of a new kind of space, an “electronic space” that emerges by means of cell phone use.