How Cell Phones Changed the World
A new exhibit at the National Museum of Natural History explores the scientific, environmental, and cultural implications of the cell phone.
I remember the moment I realized the invention of the cell phone would change my work and life forever. I was driving home in the pouring rain, and the mobile phone built into my car started ringing. It was a reporter from the Washington Post, who wanted to know if the Smithsonian would try to collect Monica Lewinsky’s dress, which was then under the jurisdiction of the Department of Justice as evidence in President Clinton’s impeachment trial.
I was the Associate Director of the National Museum of American History at the time, and I realized I needed to pull over to be able to focus on the first work call I ever took from my car. From the side of the road, I told the reporter that although the dress was an important artifact, the museum was focused on collecting a record of the context of that historic moment. We weren’t going to lean into a national fixation on the dress itself, which was, after all, a critical piece of evidence not available for museum collection.
When I hung up the phone, I was struck by the significance of the moment: not by the weight of the impeachment trial, but by the fact that I could now speak about it from behind the wheel of a car. I was constantly reachable in a way I could never have imagined. Of course, that was only the beginning.
A new exhibition at the National Museum of Natural History explores the implications of exactly that shift, and all those that followed it: the cell phone transformed lives across the globe.
The exhibition does not shy away from the scale of that task. It boasts more than 750 objects and features 33 profiles of people whose lives have been impacted by cell phones from drastically different cultures and backgrounds. Josh Bell, the Curator of Globalization who brough the exhibition to life, thinks of the exhibit as “an exploded cell phone,” both literally and figuratively.
Entrance to the “Cellphone: Unseen Connections” exhibition at the National Museum of Natural History
Fifty-five minerals containing 65 elements—more than half the periodic table—that make up a smart phone are laid out in a glass case. There is also an explanation of the infrastructure behind wireless networks and the equity implications that come along with that, a section detailing the environmental impact of every cell phone from creation to disposal, and a graphic novel spanning three gallery walls that explores the benefits and drawbacks of growing up with the internet in your pocket. A selection of art and cultural objects from around the world, created in the wake of this technological revolution, are found throughout the exhibition space.
Visitors can explore the nostalgia of what cell phones used to be (bulky things reminiscent of what was once built into my car) and all that the smartphone has come to replace (boom boxes, physical wallets, cameras, and more). The exhibition team drew on their own memorabilia to put that together: there is a paper ticket for a They Might Be Giants concert at the original 9:30 Club, which Bell attended in high school; toy cell phones that once belonged to his children; and the personal photo album of an exhibition writer.
Visitors explore the ways people communicated before the ubiquity of cellphones.
In the week since the exhibition opened, visitors have delighted in intergenerational conversations sparked by the pieces of history they see themselves in. Parents eagerly tell children what it was like to rely on a phone book to find a number and point out the clunky Nokia phones they once carried around.
The primary target demographic, however, is people aged 12 to 25: a group with few or no memories of a world before the smartphone. Interactive games and memes throughout the exhibition were approved by a focus group of teenagers. The museum’s team hopes to engage teenagers and young adults in unpacking the science and cultural anthropology behind an object that has become ubiquitous in all our lives.
Museum visitors explore the “Cellphone: Unseen Connections” exhibition at the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C opening June 23, 2023.
Through more than 300 objects from around the world, multimedia installations, an interactive group chat, and a graphic novel spanning three gallery walls, the exhibit explores the unseen personal, cultural, and technological connections created through cellphones.
The exhibition and its educational programming and national outreach efforts are made possible through the charitable generosity of lead sponsor Qualcomm with major support by T-Mobile.
Exploring that very ubiquity is the central curatorial intent. Viewers are prompted to consider the ways technology introduced the ability to share information in real time, improved financial inclusion, and broke down language barriers. Through a mural comic book commissioned for the exhibit team, visitors are confronted with the reality that these advances came with racial biases embedded in algorithms and pervasive online harassment. And they are asked to reflect on social movements made possible by the ability to witness injustice on social media, from the Arab Spring to the Black Lives Matter movement to the war in Ukraine.
To encapsulate and explore these competing truths at once is a true curatorial feat: this exhibition is an exercise in recording history as it happens, and in that way, it is exemplary of our aim for the Smithsonian not simply to look back, but to look around and look ahead.
Learn more: Torch | New Museum Display Showcases the Mineral Building Blocks of Cellphones (si.edu)
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Posted: 20 July 2023
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