融入臺灣：外國人使用智慧型手機為整合工具的經驗 - 政大學術集成

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(1)國⽴立政治⼤大學國際傳播英語碩⼠士學位學程 International Master’s Program in International Communication Studies College of Communication National Chengchi University. 碩⼠士論⽂文. 政治大. Master’s Thesis. 立. ‧ 國. 學 ‧. 融入臺灣：外國⼈人使⽤用智慧型⼿手機為整合⼯工具的經驗 Blending Into Taiwan: The Expat’s Smartphone as an Integration Tool. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. Student: Andrew Genskow Advisor: Sumei Wang 王淑美. 中華民國 104 年 6 ⽉月 June 2015. v.

(2) Table of Contents Acknowledgements…………………………………..…………………………………..ii Abstract……………………………..…………………..…………………….…………iii Chapter 1: Introduction…………………………………………………………………1 The Paradox of the Smartphone…..…………………………….….…………..…1 Chapter 2: Literature Review..……….……………………….……..……………….…5 Media Use in Everyday Life……………………………………..….…..….……..5 Media Anthropology: An Overview……….….…………………………..………6 Media Ethnographies in East Asia……..…………………….………………..…..8 Globalized Ethnography: The Expat in East Asia………………..………………10 The Smartphone as an Integration Tool………………………………………….14. 政治大 Chapter 3: Methodology………………………………………………………………..22 立. Research Questions………………………………………………………………18 Ethnographic Research Study…………..………….…..….………..……………22. ‧ 國. 學. Chapter 4: Results………………………………………………………………………27 Christina………………………………………………………………………….27. ‧. Kevin……………………………………………………………………………..33 Marcell……………………….…………………………………………………..41. y. Nat. sit. Anthony…………….…………………………………………………………….49. er. io. Kyle………………………………………………………………………………55 Chapter 5: Analysis……………………………………………………………………..62. n. al. Ch. i n U. v. Intercultural Barrier.……………………….……………………..………………62. engchi. Social Relationships…….………………………………………………………..64 Identity.……………..……………………………………………………………65 Anxiety Towards Smartphones……….………………………………………….67 Non-Users………………………………………………………………………..69 Chapter 6: “Are We Really Working for It?”……..……………………….…………72 Appendix…………………………………………….…………………………………..76 Transcript of Pilot Study…………………………………………………………76 Interview Questionnaire………………………………………………………….84 Notebook Transcript………………….…………………………………………..87 References…….………………….………………………………………………….…..89 .

(3) ii. Acknowledgements First and foremost I’d like to thank my subjects, Christina, Marcell, Kevin, Anthony, and Kyle, without them my research would have been an empty shell. They asserted a few of my claims I had going into this project, but, more often than not, they completely surprised me with their thought-provoking opinions and the inner workings of their everyday lives. They sacrificed their time, their effort, and their privacy for the purpose of furthering my own research, and for that I truly thank them. Professor Sumei Wang 王淑美 was integral in devising the basis for this work and helping to see it through. When my thoughts were in one million different places, she. 政治大. helped to streamline them, when I hit a roadblock, she pushed it to the side. Through our. 立. media practice courses at 政⼤大 to the last sentence of this paper, she supported me every. ‧ 國. Eva Tsai 蔡如⾳音 for their expertise and ongoing help.. 學. step of the way. I’d also like to recognize Professor Yi-Chieh Lin 林怡潔 and Professor. ‧. I’d of course like to thank my loving family for supporting my nomadic lifestyle.. sit. y. Nat. I’m a long way from the USA now, but without their love and encouragement I wouldn’t have had the wherewithal to finish this project, complete my MA, or even move to. io. al. er. Taiwan in the first place. Speaking of Taiwan, 謝謝你們! To my girlfriend, to my. n. v i n students, to my classmates, to my C teachers, to the guava vendor down the street and the hengchi U stray dogs that sit and wait for me outside the library. You’ve all welcomed me into your home for the last three years, and I was proud to make it the site for this study. .

(4) iii. Traversing Taiwan: The Expat’s Smartphone as an Integration Tool Abstract Expats living in East Asian nations have a distinctly fresh view of the burgeoning cultures around them. The field of media ethnography has largely ignored this view in favor of domestic perspectives, focusing on virtual ethnography, digital observation, and the collection of empirical data within these local populations. Taiwan is a fast-evolving nation state, with an ever-increasing foreign community and a mobile phone penetration rate of 98%. This study, recounted from the eyes of an American expat living in Taiwan, examines the successes and pitfalls Western nationals face when using their smartphones. 政治大. to overcome cultural barriers, maintain social relationships, and build an identity. 立. overseas. The research itself takes shape through a series of one-one-one interviews,. ‧ 國. 學. concentrating on five subjects of differing age, gender, travel background, language level and locale. The second focus is on in-depth, on-site participant observation of these. ‧. individuals interacting with Taiwanese locals and attempting to build a life for themselves away from home. Observations of their daily lifestyles, combined with interview content,. y. Nat. sit. sheds light on the intentions and contradictions they face in using their smartphones to. n. al. er. io. traverse their environment. The goal of this study is to draw a detailed and nuanced. i n U. v. picture of the expatriate experience and image in Taiwan, as well as analyze the ability of. Ch. engchi. Westerners to use technology to integrate into Taiwanese culture. Keywords: media ethnography, expat, smartphone use, cultural identity, Taiwan .

(5) THE EXPAT’S SMARTPHONE AS AN INTEGRATION TOOL. 1. Chapter 1 Introduction The Paradox of the Smartphone Walking into 7-Eleven can be terrifying. Upon first moving to Taiwan in 2012, I had virtually no knowledge of the Chinese language beyond 你好 (nǐ hăo, hello). Armed with nothing but a cheap mobile phone, I often found myself wandering the streets of the industrial suburb of Changhua where I lived, or riding my motorbike up into the mountains outside of town. Subsequently, I also often found myself lost, disoriented, jabbering on the phone to a Taiwanese friend or co-worker, trying desperately to find my. 政治大. way back to a familiar place. More than once someone had to actually ride out to the. 立. general area where I was lost, locate me, and lead me back home.. ‧ 國. 學. Similar situations occurred inside stores, restaurants, banks and train stations. I would find myself lost in a conversation with a local Taiwanese waiter or attendant and. ‧. again resort to calling a Chinese-speaker on my mobile phone to iron out the situation.. y. Nat. These predicaments were frustrating and at least mildly embarrassing on my part, but the. n. al. er. io. occurred inside 7-Eleven.. sit. most nerve-wracking moments I experienced during my first few months in Taiwan. i n U. v. 7-Eleven is a hugely successful brand in Taiwan, you’d be hard-pressed to find. Ch. engchi. yourself more than 5 minutes from a store at any given location. You can accomplish a lot in one trip, paying bills, eating dinner, buying concert tickets. However, all transactions are obviously done in Chinese and unlike getting lost or trying to buy a train ticket home, these situations were not imminent emergencies, so I couldn’t very well justify calling up a Taiwanese friend to help me along. So, I’d have to take a deep breath, put on my most approachable smile and attempt to use a language I barely understood. Anyone who has ever learned a foreign language knows that this can be incredibly distressing and occasionally disastrous. I once had a five minute interchange of hand gestures, blank stares and math problems only to realize the attendant was trying to explain the bottle of water I was buying was currently buy one get one free..

(6) THE EXPAT’S SMARTPHONE AS AN INTEGRATION TOOL. 2. After three years in the country, including several semesters of language study, my dialogues have become much more fluid. Ordering food is a cinch. I can manage my business at the bank or send a package at the post office without running into many communication roadblocks. As a second-language learner this is gratifying, but the more I learn the more I yearn to use Chinese to accomplish more than just everyday tasks. I want to meet people. I want to get to know them in their native tongue. Another improvement in my Chinese communication arsenal has been my smartphone, upgraded from a simple, pay as you go phone only capable of making calls and sending text messages, to a fully-functional, Internet-enabled iPhone. EnglishChinese translation apps make everyday communication incredibly easier. My ability to. 政治大. be intertextual, to relate stories, interests, and parts of my personality through media is. 立. something that has become uncomplicated thanks to mobile technology. If I’d like to give. ‧ 國. 學. a Taiwanese local an idea of what it’s like to live in my small hometown in Ohio, I can scroll through a few pictures I’ve taken of the woods outside my house, my friends and I. ‧. having drinks at our local bar, or my family at the park. I can use Soundcloud to. y. Nat. introduce them to a local hip-hop artist, play footage of our Ohio sports heroes on. io. sit. YouTube, search Google images for pictures of my old high school. I can even use. n. al. er. Google Earth show someone what it’s like to just stand outside my house and look. i n U. v. around. This requires very little effort on my part, just the ability to use my phone to seek out what I’m looking for.. Ch. engchi. This is all very convenient, but I can’t help but feel there is something fundamental lacking in these interchanges. What’s a conversation without eye contact? Without physical cues? It’s a well-known fact that there is little hope for intimacy between two people when lacking the former (Argyle & Dean 1965). There is certainly no shortage of information or entertainment, now that it’s all available on Internetenabled phones, but then maybe it’s just our phones that are connecting, and not us as people. I sometimes take a stroll outside my apartment for the express purpose of meeting someone new. Sometimes this happens in English, but I like to attempt Chinese if at all.

(7) THE EXPAT’S SMARTPHONE AS AN INTEGRATION TOOL. 3. possible. Naturally, I’m armed with my smartphone and so is everyone else I run into. Unfortunately, this can act as a disconnect. A staggering amount of people I pass by are talking or texting. They are engaged with their own private realities, their own social spheres. They appear to be uninterested in engaging the immediate world around them. I try not to criticize this mannerism too much, as I’m often guilty of it myself, but I can’t help but notice a paradox that is starting to become more and more apparent in expatriate communication methods. The smartphone enables me to communicate and at the same time prevents me from doing so. It is a blessing and a curse, a safety net and a ball and chain. It bridges cultural barriers and yet stands firmly as an obstacle between expats and Taiwanese locals.. 政治大. When you look at the daily lives of expats living in Taiwan, it becomes quite. 立. apparent that the smartphone can play a large part in determining whether or not they will. ‧ 國. 學. successfully integrate into their new environment. With mobile dictionaries, multilingual social media and the like, one might initially conclude that the smartphone is about as. ‧. useful as one’s hands when living overseas. However, having a conversation with. io. y. sit. and impersonal.. Nat. someone who is holding an opaque rectangle in front of their face can be both frustrating. n. al. er. Psychologist Rollo May (1994) warned “the danger always exists that our. i n U. v. technology will serve as a buffer between us and nature, a block between us and the. Ch. engchi. deeper dimensions of our own experience.” German philosopher Georg Simmel (1997) identified a century ago the “superficiality of social intercourse” that many often fear, as well as the “gloomy anxiety over a threatening reality that drove men to pure escape.” That being said, it’s important to note that the smartphone, while currently our buzz word, is just another tool people have adopted to interact with their complicated social sphere and all the tension it entails. The implications of these thoughts speak volumes about the method and ability of outsiders to find their way into a foreign culture. The goal of this research is to explore the value of the expatriate’s smartphone as a communication method. Particularly, what the medium and all it entails reveals about the expat’s rapidly evolving lifestyle and.

(8) THE EXPAT’S SMARTPHONE AS AN INTEGRATION TOOL. 4. social position overseas. As a qualitative study, the aim here is not to gather a great deal of empirical data, but rather to dive head-first into the day-to-day experiences and interactions of five individuals who uprooted their lives to call a country whose language and culture were foreign to them home.. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v.

(9) THE EXPAT’S SMARTPHONE AS AN INTEGRATION TOOL. 5. Chapter 2 Literature Review Media Use in Everyday Life Video and photo sharing, translation dictionaries, social media apps and the wealth of information and contact methods they entail. For an expat, this is the media one often relies on for everyday communication. In many ways, this media acts like a language in that it either limits or enhances our capacity for communicating. It’s also, like language, very easy to take for granted. Sometimes as familiar as breathing, one can very easily forget the subtle nuances of accent, colloquialisms, or inflection until they are in. 政治大. the presence of an outsider, someone who is not well-versed in one’s native tongue. When. 立. one’s language is taken away, nullified and useless, the sense of panic and confusion that. ‧ 國. disappears.. 學. ensues is not unlike that which one might experience when one’s media suddenly. ‧. Indeed, media is “at the heart of our capacity or incapacity to make sense of the world in which we live” (Silverstone 1999), but engaging with it has become so. y. Nat. sit. ubiquitous, such second-nature, that it’s easy to overlook just how large a part it plays in. al. er. io. the simple act of introducing oneself, meeting a friend for lunch, or asking someone out. n. v i n C h related to one’sUsocial skills and propensity for not fully invested in it. Its use is directly engchi. on a date. The effect of media on our everyday social lives is inescapable, even for those. intimacy (Ishii 2006) and can drastically change who we are willing and/or able to. communicate with on both a geographic and ethnic level (Matei & Ball-Rokeach 2002). Silverstone (1994) describes technology as a “struggle for control,” in that one is constantly in the process of understanding it and using it to one’s advantage. Just like language, this struggle is more apparent for an outsider. In a complex situation, watching a series of videos online for example, the effects of media are often invisible. One is busy trying to process and contextualize the videos and is not particularly concerned with how they acquired them, what they’re using them for, or what sort of implications they may.

(10) THE EXPAT’S SMARTPHONE AS AN INTEGRATION TOOL. 6. have on one’s mannerisms or wellbeing. This is an understandable thought process coming from an insider, someone well-versed in media culture. However, for a complete outsider, social life is reduced to its most basic means. Here, the struggle to control and understand media becomes quite obvious. Take the expat, unaccustomed to public transit, social norms, relevant news, etc. their once standard tendencies in using media in their everyday life are rendered archaic or culturally irrelevant. Silverstone acknowledges this perspective of the community outsider as such,. This uncertainty is the product of a sense of loss but also the product of a sense of. 政治大. unease: that the world in which we now live, a world of fractured experience,. 立. fragmenting culture, and social and geographical mobility, has undermined and. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. will continue to undermine our capacity to sustain social life meaningfully. The expat’s mindset is an interesting and meaningful viewpoint because it truly. y. Nat. shifts the focus back to the root of many communication issues, to the fundamental acts. io. sit. of making distinctions and judgements in everyday life. This perspective reveals how. n. al. er. media has in many ways become the backbone of everyday communication and explains. i n U. v. why it has also become a focal point in many anthropological studies.. Ch. Media Anthropology: An Overview. engchi. The field of Media Anthropology was originally born from an interest in including more than just surveys, experiments and data in the domain of media studies. In the later half of the 20th century, cultural symbols and meanings, social organization, and other phenomenon traditionally found in the field of cultural anthropology began appear in media studies (Eiselein & Topper 1976; Morley 1980), shaping what today has evolved into media anthropology. The foundational goal of the discipline, according to Rothenbuhler and Coman (2005), is that it “prepares media studies for more complete engagement with the symbolic construction of reality and the fundamental importance of.

(11) THE EXPAT’S SMARTPHONE AS AN INTEGRATION TOOL. 7. symbolic structures, myth, and ritual in everyday life.” This approach bypasses many of the questions encountered in traditional media studies because it inherently formulates media processes and tools as complex parts of social reality (Bennett 1982). The history of media anthropology and its discourse are, undoubtedly, tied to the history of media itself. This parallel is especially notable not just in the evolution of technology, but more importantly in the way in which people experience and interact with these phenomena within the boundaries of their culture. A good example has been the transition to a focus on more individualized subjects in media anthropological studies. This is certainly not to say something like global culture has no place in media anthropology, it serves as the core for much of its theory, but its subjects under the. 政治大. magnifying glass are often scaled down from the “mass” media to the “personal” media. 立. (Spitulnik 1993). This runs in line with the slow disposal of the more uniform newspaper. ‧ 國. 學. or network television and the adoption of more individualized media like computers and smartphones. As Utesheva, Cecez-Kecmanov and Schlagwein (2012) note, even the. ‧. newspaper itself, now shrunken down to a digital medium, has become a much more. y. Nat. fluid, customizable platform with which audiences can interact.. io. sit. Additionally, in an interesting shift back to age-old anthropological norms, the. n. al. er. scope of culture within media anthropology has also become much more localized.. i n U. v. Ginsberg (2002) terms this shift as “resignifying the traditional.” A richer, more diverse. Ch. engchi. range of cultures have now begun to enter the limelight. Topics like the effect of television on Australian aborigines (Michaels 1986), how remote Zambian villages have adopted the radio (Spitulnik 2002), and the duality of modern and indigenous media in Uganda (Mushengyezi 2003), are just a few examples of how media anthropology has striven to become a tree of many localized, cultural branches, rather than a single, allinclusive, global hodgepodge. Peterson (2004) describes the current state of media anthropology as consisting of three over-arching goals, to decentralize the western experience and examine other corners of the globe, to posit alternative theories, and to collect a broad range of ethnographies. As a Westerner currently living in Taiwan, these goals seem to seamlessly.

(12) THE EXPAT’S SMARTPHONE AS AN INTEGRATION TOOL. 8. fall in line with the scope of this research, hence, the distinction of media ethnography as my mode of study.. Media Ethnographies in East Asia Recent ethnographies in the field of media anthropology have taken interest in a diverse scale of participants. Interviewees range from rural Indian’s concerned with the globalization of Bollywood films (Rao 2007) to banjo players who use online communities as informal learning environments (Waldron 2011). Truth be told there is a veritable circus of research that has been approached by media ethnographers, but only a fraction of this has focused on East Asia.. 政治大. One example is Kanayama’s (2003) study of the Japanese elderly public’s quest to. 立. integrate into virtual communities, which detailed how a subset of the population. ‧ 國. 學. managed to hold onto many traditional social norms (the Japanese haiku, tanka, and archaic language) and blend them into an unfamiliar, digital environment (emoticons and. ‧. chat rooms). This theme of technological integration has played a large part in defining. y. Nat. the breadth of Eastern media ethnographies.. io. sit. When attempting to integrate technology into everyday life, people often define it. n. al. er. based on their culture, their own specific way of seeing the world. However, in many. i n U. v. ways technology also ends up defining them. To even exist on the Internet one has to. Ch. engchi. write oneself and one’s community into being (Livingstone 2008), otherwise, one runs the risk of being defined entirely by others, by companies, or by artificial intelligence. In paraphrasing Winston Churchill, Turkle (2012) recently claimed, “we make our technologies, and they, in turn, shape us.” This symbiotic relationship takes the front seat in many media ethnographies, particularly those that hail from East Asia. While Kanayama’s (2003) subjects, for example, may not have been especially well-versed in email, message boards and online ‘netiquette’ (Fox & Roberts 1999), the promise of enriched interpersonal communication, intellectual stimulation and more cost-efficient options in accomplishing everyday tasks urged them to integrate into the virtual domain, regardless of initial uncertainties..

(13) THE EXPAT’S SMARTPHONE AS AN INTEGRATION TOOL. 9. Lukac’s (2013) study on Japanese youth and their use of the cellphone novel to stake out a new claim in their work culture is another ethnography that turned an inquisitive eye towards the smartphone’s place in East Asia. The work revolves around a number of young authors using the digital media format to not only connect with readers, but to integrate their needs and values into the conflicting, traditional Japanese work environment. Here, the smartphone is shown to be an integration tool used in the socioeconomic sphere, working to both give a voice to the younger population and earn them a living. Chan’s (2008) work with Hong Kong’s middle class mothers is another prime example of the theme of technological integration. In this case, subjects jumped at the. 政治大. chance to mesh with the online community via chat boards. This enables them to build a. 立. personal sense of self that diverts from more traditional cultural norms, as well as connect. ‧ 國. 學. with others who share this same desire. Hu’s (2005) study on Chinese fans of Japanese anime shows how one sect of the Asian population, although not an object of Japan’s. ‧. capitalist interest, can still have a strong communal voice and carve out a substantial. y. Nat. subculture for themselves simply through online presence and communication. From. io. sit. these studies and others like it we can see that for a variety of reasons, whether it be. n. al. er. stringent social ideals, seemingly omnipresent adoption of new technology, or more. i n U. v. likely the clash and blending of the two, East Asia is a rich location for media ethnographers to explore.. Ch. engchi. Taiwan itself has been the site for a few notable research projects. Namely, the relationship between youth culture and SMS (Yeh 2004), exploring the acceptance and intentions of new social media apps (Lai 2007), gaming culture and social management among Taiwanese adolescents (Hjorth & Chan 2009), and fleshing out the use of smartphones among Taiwanese college students to improve social and familial relationships (Wei & Lo 2006). While at first focusing on adopting the television (Mankekar 1993; Zhong 2003), Eastern media anthropology as a whole, like Wei and Lo’s study, has now turned its gaze to the smartphone, which has armed its users with an arsenal of unique social attributes. With a mobile penetration rate of almost 98% (Lai.

(14) THE EXPAT’S SMARTPHONE AS AN INTEGRATION TOOL. 10. 2007), Taiwan is an exciting venue to study the effects and implications of smartphone use among the public. Wei and Lo’s (2006) study, “Staying Connected While on the Move: Cell Phone Use and Social Connectedness,” sheds light on the population’s intentions in using smartphones. For instance, individuals often use their phones for affection gratification when contacting family members, while pursuing social utility when contacting others. Also, those who lack social skills frequently use their phone as a sort of compensation, using it as a symbol of fashion and status. Finally, women in Taiwan will rely on their phones more heavily than men to show affection, while men use it more often for information-seeking purposes.. 政治大. These are invaluable revelations that divulge much about Taiwanese smartphone. 立. use and cultural customs, but the work was largely quantitative. In fact, if there is. ‧ 國. 學. anything lacking in the media anthropological research undertaken in Taiwan, it is more traditional, on-site interviews and participant observation. Quantitative data speaks. ‧. volumes about a culture’s motivations, but to understand the motivations of an individual,. y. Nat. to truly grasp why a cultural phenomenon exists in the first place, empirical fieldwork is. io. n. al. er. anthropology becomes apparent, to posit alternative theories.. sit. paramount. This is where Peterson’s (2004) final goal of contemporary media. Ch. engchi. Globalized Ethnography: The Expat in East Asia. i n U. v. As previously mentioned, the nature of media anthropology is always evolving, quite quickly as of late, just like the people and technology that fill its pages of research and narrative. New perspective and theory is necessary for new processes to be comprehended. One of these processes is globalization. For the purpose of this research the development of globalization will not be fully explored, but in short it can be defined as a process that encompasses the causes, course, and consequences of transnational and transcultural integration of human and non-human activities (Al-Rodhan & Stoudmann 2006). What’s important about globalization here is not its all-inclusive, broad-spanning nature, but rather that its circumstances have.

(15) THE EXPAT’S SMARTPHONE AS AN INTEGRATION TOOL. 11. relocated many people in the world. This translational movement reshapes the theory concerning travelers and expats alike, considering they are in a brand new environment facing an entirely different set of problems, habits, values, manners and contradictions than they might face in their home country. It’s important to note that in English, the words ‘expat’ and ‘foreigner’ are often interchangeable. In Taiwan however, the words 外國⼈人 (wàiguórén, foreigner) and ⽼老外 (lǎowài, a more colloquial term referring to outsiders) encompass different groups of people. While 外國⼈人can be used for anyone from a different country, ⽼老外 is most often used to refer to white outsiders. There are socioeconomic undertones within the term as. 政治大 something new, while other East or Southeast Asians are more likely come to the country 立 while. Stereotypically, Western outsiders will come to Taiwan to travel and experience. for work purposes. This certainly isn’t always true, but regardless, it has given the term. ‧ 國. 學. ⽼老外 a sort of playful quality. Even within the Chinese title of this project I chose to use. ‧. the word 外國⼈人 simply because ⽼老外 would be the equivalent of using the word ‘dude’. sit. Nat. subtleties of Chinese phrasing are worth mentioning.. y. or ‘buddy’ in an academic setting. I’ll be using the word ‘expat’ henceforth, but these. al. er. io. One problem that all expats face at one time or another is culture shock, most. v i n C h & Gerber 2010), working in an unfamiliar place (Macionis e n g c h i U is a consequence that most all n. aptly described as a “personal disorientation” that a person endures when living or. expats experience during their time abroad. While this affliction can control even the most minute details of one’s life, like excessive concern over drinking water (Oberg. 2006) or an unsettling shift in dream patterns (Anderson 1971), if overcome it can also work to empower an individual, giving them renewed, fledgling interest in the culture around them. Culture shock is commonly defined through five distinct phases. First the honeymoon stage, then disintegration, reintegration, autonomy and eventually interdependence (Pederson 1994). While overall experience can certainly vary from person to person, the general timeline of culture shock progresses as such. The individual.

(16) THE EXPAT’S SMARTPHONE AS AN INTEGRATION TOOL. 12. arrives in the foreign environment and is overwhelmed with curiosity and excitement. After some time, communication and lifestyle difficulties are encountered and lead to a sense of personal inadequacy. This results in anger, resentment, and an overall dismissal of the new culture. Some people may stay stuck in this stage for quite some time, but if reintegration is necessary or desired they will eventually attain a sense of balance concerning the positive and negative aspects of both the new and old cultures. The last stage results in biculturalism and fluency. One such study that focuses on this progression of culture shock is Selmer’s (1999) research on Western businesses managers relocating to China. Through a series of questionnaires, Selmer found that expat managers from the USA, France, Great Britain,. 政治大. Australia and Germany experienced a general sense of disconnect and confusion when. 立. faced with a new, unfamiliar business setting. Individuals encountered serious difficulties. ‧. ‧ 國. performance.. 學. in motivating employees, building meaningful relationships, and monitoring employee. Some of this trouble was owed to a lack of formal training in Chinese business. y. Nat. customs, but the problem that arises in most studies of East Asian culture shock is that of. io. sit. the culture itself, and how understanding its complexities can be very challenging for. n. al. er. foreigners. Taiwan is a “high-context culture” (Hurn & Tomalin 2013) which focuses on. i n U. v. ambiguity, suggestion, and much less direct, confrontational modes of communication.. Ch. engchi. The traditional Chinese culture that pervades communities is one of collectivism, with a tight-knit social framework that leads to harmony within the group (Kaye & Taylor 1997). This can be confounding for Western expats, who come from a more direct, individualistic cultural background, as many times the “cultural distance” between the two cultures correlates with how successfully one might integrate into their new community and ease the stresses of culture shock (Hofstede 1980). Other factors which come into play are age (Mamman 1995), past travel experience (Selmer 1995) and the individuals overall self-efficacy skills (Stahl, Mendenhall & Oddou 2012). The other glaring obstacle that appears is the language barrier..

(17) THE EXPAT’S SMARTPHONE AS AN INTEGRATION TOOL. 13. The language barrier arises as a problem of exclusion (Fantini 1995), limiting conversation and information exchange to those versed in a language. While steps can certainly be taken to learn a language and understand its nuances, if it’s not one’s native tongue, inconsistencies will invariably appear in one form or another. This can lead to friction between friends, colleagues and strangers alike (Brown 1991). On the other hand, it can also lead to a shared identity, in which both parties modify their communication methods accordingly to understand one another. Iino's (1996) study on dinner conversations between American students and Japanese host families showed how such events unfold. When it comes to the Chinese language, this barrier can be exceptionally tall.. 政治大. With more native speakers than any other language in the world, Chinese has also quickly. 立. become a popular second language for both personal and practical purposes. However,. ‧ 國. 學. the learning curve is long and often tumultuous, especially for those unfamiliar with the character system. Just a cursory understanding of the language requires a knowledge of. ‧. between three and four-thousand characters and their accompanying pronunciation. y. Nat. (Norman 1988). For expats living in Chinese-speaking communities, this handicap can. sit. dismantle one’s lifestyle and ruin one’s self-confidence. As a dialect that relies heavily on. n. al. er. io. implicit communication (hán xù 含蓄) and a focus on insiders, (zì jǐ rén ⾃自⼰己⼈人), even. Ch. i n U. v. one well-read in the language can easily become a victim of misperception (Gao 1998).. engchi. On the other hand, increased language ability is also, unsurprisingly, shown to have a positive correlation with socio-cultural adjustment. In another of Selmer’s (2006) studies, business expats assigned to China showed that a greater exposure to and understanding of Chinese vernacular led to improved personal relationships, more meaningful interactions and subsequently better performance at work. Studies in media ethnography have also honed in on the unique problems and experiences of expats in the East. Take for instance Lafferty and Maher’s (2014) examination of white males married to Thai women. Resettling in Thailand with their new wives, their lifestyle and sense of identity are turned upside down. Finding their place within the unfamiliar culture means re-examining their social position, masculinity,.

(18) THE EXPAT’S SMARTPHONE AS AN INTEGRATION TOOL. 14. and insecurities. The authors recount how this displacement transforms not just the men’s psyches, but their everyday lives as well. “Bar Talk in Bali with Expat Residential Tourists” is another work that explores the experience of expats integrating into an Asian culture, examining single, Australian men dabbling in “privileged tourism” (Bell 2014) in Indonesia. Stanley’s (2013) A Critical Ethnography of ‘Westerners’ Teaching English in China: Shanghaied in Shanghai describes the Western experience in Chinese culture. Her fieldwork and interviews reveal a great deal about how an expat’s behavior changes along with their surroundings. She explains how resisting this change, seeking to retain one’s own traditional values, or trying and failing to integrate into Chinese culture, can all lead. 政治大. to a great deal of stress and/or maturation on the part of the expat. One of Stanley’s. 立. subjects speaks at length about this experience,. ‧ 國. 學. I have never been so aware of my foreignness and relative status as I am in China,. ‧. everywhere else I’ve ever lived I’ve been able to integrate and become part of. y. Nat. local life. In Shanghai I couldn't do that and after a while I stopped trying. It’s. n. al. Ch. engchi. The Smartphone as an Integration Tool. er. io. But that’s just not who I am or how I live.. sit. perfectly possible, although not particularly satisfying, to live a wholly expat life.. i n U. v. The notably absent piece of the puzzle in Stanley’s (2013) work is technology. It is undeniable that smartphones now alter the social environment of an expat. As a globalized phenomenon, its mobility transcends simple convenience. As people themselves continue to exercise their freedom of worldwide mobility, identities have also come to be perceived as constantly in the process of movement, change and transformation (Spiteri 2013). This is a difficult predicament for ethnographers studying those living overseas, as in most cases it is enormously easier to fall back on the virtual ethnography when analyzing expats use of smartphones, relying entirely on chat logs, Internet activity, etc. in lieu of face-to-face interviews and on-site observations.

(19) THE EXPAT’S SMARTPHONE AS AN INTEGRATION TOOL. 15. (Freidenberg 2011). This methodology is no doubt commonly used because subjects are inconveniently located all the way on the other side of the globe. Nevertheless, even when examining digital identity, physical presence is still paramount. Kien’s (2009) Global Technography: Ethnography in the Age of Mobility is a multi-faceted, ethnographical approach to the global network that does manage to incorporate on-site interviews and participant observation. The work takes many technological mediums into account, but focuses specifically on the smartphone entering a new cultural sphere in the third chapter, “Technological Mobility and Cultural Practice.” Kien conceptualizes the smartphone as a tool used to perform a role in a sort of. 政治大. large-scale social performance that shifts between cultures. In his case this drama plays. 立. out as an American (Kien) interacts with the Canadian social environment. Kien faces. ‧ 國. 學. challenges when confronting the exceedingly polite mannerisms of local Canadians. For instance, refusing to use one’s phone on public transit, or not answering while in public.. ‧. Nevertheless, the cultural gap explored here is admittedly not nearly as daunting as one. y. Nat. might experience as a Westerner in Taiwan.. io. sit. As previously mentioned, the language barrier is an important issue foreigners. n. al. er. encounter when we look to East Asia, one that can’t be fully understood when examining. i n U. v. Western nations who have a much higher overall propensity for English. Other Taiwanese. Ch. engchi. phenomena worth mentioning are the massive change in population density, nationwide Wi-Fi, and a completely different set of designer products, apps and software available to the public. There is also the issue of “true” Taiwanese culture, which can appear to be more of an amalgam of other East Asian cultures to the untrained eye. The social atmosphere of Taiwan is not what media pundits and commercial manipulation shape it up to be, and the genuine identity of the country and its people is both much richer and more complicated than what’s advertised (Yaoxian 2013). For example, Taiwanese Hokkien, not Standard Chinese, is the language most often spoken at home. In the case of older Taiwanese locals and many populations outside of major cities, it is also the primary language used in all day-to-day interactions. Scroll through your options on.

(20) THE EXPAT’S SMARTPHONE AS AN INTEGRATION TOOL. 16. Google Translate and you’ll notice that Taiwanese is absent. These points all raise questions as to how an expat’s smartphone might affect their lifestyle in Taiwan, as opposed to other places. Although one of the current goals of media ethnography is to navigate uncharted territory, there is a breadth of theory already in place to aid in these new studies. Intertextuality, for example, is a relevant topic. In short, it is the knowledge of particular kinds of media texts and an ability to display this knowledge competently (Peterson 2005). Concerning smartphones, this concept is especially important because it allows people to connect by using more than just their immediate selves. Entire photo albums, favorite songs and movie clips, foreign-language news articles and blogs are all available with the touch of one’s thumb.. 立. 政治大. It’s important to note that the ‘text’ in ‘intertextuality’ shouldn’t be taken literally.. ‧ 國. 學. This phenomenon can also take shape in the form of symbols, forgoing language (Meinhof & Smith 2000). In any case, intertextuality aids in forming national, cultural. ‧. and personal identities and relationships (Meinhof & Smith 2000). It acts as a sort of. io. y. sit. common language.. Nat. “cultural capital” (Peterson 2005) used to connect with others who may not even share a. n. al. er. The symbol of the gift has long been analyzed in the traditional anthropological. i n U. v. context (Mauss 1954). Symbolizing reciprocity, respect, and a myriad of other cultural. Ch. engchi. notions, the gift exchange process now has a new avenue for study in media anthropology. Text or SMS messages, for example, can be seen as gifts that lay the groundwork for new relationships, allowing users to share emotions and feelings of intimacy outside of face-to-face interaction (Lin & Tong 2007). Exchanged messages, pictures, videos and other media also develop a sentimental history between users (Taylor & Harper 2002). Acting as a virtual photo album or yearbook, these points of reference strengthen existing bonds and provide relationships with a visual history. For expats, these exchanges may be invaluable assets in both connecting with others and understanding societal norms..

(21) THE EXPAT’S SMARTPHONE AS AN INTEGRATION TOOL. 17. Beyond social relationships this “link-up” process, as Horst and Miller (2006) put it, can also facilitate business connections, offer up employment opportunities, and lay the groundwork for an overall better work environment for expats. When moving and living abroad, career goals they have can be communicated, networked, and fully realized. In a place like Taiwan, with such a strong mobile penetration rate, the smartphone is seemingly vital to one’s economic wellbeing. Other phenomena that may affect expat’s are the concepts of “no-where places,” “no-when times,” and exhibited use. No-where places are crossing places, devoid of any specific meaning, that seem to exist just for the purpose of being crossed (Caronia 2005). Commuter trains and buses are good examples of common no-where places. However, as. 政治大. was displayed in Kien’s (2009) work, the cultural norms behind such sites can drastically. 立. change depending where in the world you are.. ‧ 國. 學. No-when times are moments throughout the day when one is waiting to get somewhere, waiting for someone to arrive, or simply waiting for something to happen. ‧. (Caronia 2005). These situations often occur within the bounds of no-where places, but. y. Nat. can also be spontaneous. The smartphone attributes to these moments a chance to be. io. sit. digitally functional and allow one to construct their social network in a place and time. n. al. er. that is free of any particular consequence. Like no-where places, they are also dependent. i n U. v. on culture. Taiwan’s normalcy of both phenomena may initially shock expat’s and require some amount of acclimation.. Ch. engchi. Besides digital functionality, smartphone users also employ their devices to partake in exhibited use. This concept depends not so much on what’s going on within the phone, as it does on what’s happening in the immediate social sphere around the phone. The main objective is not to isolate oneself in a private space, but instead to let the outside world enter the social scene (Caronia 2005). Taiwan youth culture’s particular interest in phone-branding, customization and tech-chic turn exhibited use into a very nuanced issue for expat’s to interact with. Another matter which is relevant to Taiwan, where the population gap between cities and rural communities is particularly large, is the sociology of space. Simmel.

(22) THE EXPAT’S SMARTPHONE AS AN INTEGRATION TOOL. 18. (1997) claimed that “of course people cannot be close to or distant from each other, without space donating some of its form.” This assertion has held true through the rise of massive, sprawling, Asian urban capitals. A city like Taipei is a prime example of how this spatial form affects the people living in it. Simmel continues,. Even today in the backwardness of small town conditions the relationship to one’s neighbors in a building plays a very different role than in the metropolis where, in the complexity and confusion of the external image of city life, one grows accustomed to continual abstractions, to indifference towards that which is spatially closest and to an intimate relationship to that which is spatially very far removed.. 政治大. 立. ‧ 國. 學. These “abstractions” Simmel speaks of are not difficult to deduce. While one is crammed inside a city bus or bumping shoulders along a crowded sidewalk, the. ‧. smartphone works as a convenient escape, a tool to connect with that which is far away.. y. Nat. The smartphone’s ability to “transform spaces” (Bull 2008) makes its use especially. io. sit. routine in Taiwan’s urban centers.. n. al. er. Ultimately, learning to mesh with these cultural norms and understand what they. i n U. v. are, what they mean, and potentially even use them to one’s advantage, is a large part of. Ch. engchi. what makes studying media anthropology challenging, compelling and worth researching.. Research Questions Proposed Cultural barriers are particularly daunting obstacles for Westerners living in Taiwan, as a large part of the population is rooted in more traditional Eastern culture. However, that doesn’t mean telecommunications and connectivity is any less important to their daily lives. Even older folks who may have only cursory knowledge of new technology still tote a smartphone in their handbag or mahjong case. Younger folks have dove head-on into the flood of new tech and media. You’d be hard-pressed to find anyone.

(23) THE EXPAT’S SMARTPHONE AS AN INTEGRATION TOOL. 19. under the age of 30 who doesn’t have a relatively new smartphone, complete with a stylish case, a LINE account and a regularly updated Facebook profile. This creates an interesting terrain for expat’s seeking to interact with Taiwanese locals. Translation dictionaries like Pleco or Google Translate are good options, but simply having a smartphone, making it visible and including it in a conversation, might also ease the cross-cultural communication process. Media-sharing platforms like YouTube are also part of the “global sense-making system” (Hartley 2009), where personalized, user-generated content can aid in knowledge acquisition and cultural perception, offering a mutually compatible visual mode of communication. Whether or not an expat decides to take part in these methods has great. 政治大. implications towards grappling with culture shock and bridging communication gaps.. 立. Therefore, this study’s first research question is:. ‧ 國. 學. RQ1: How do expats use smartphones to overcome intercultural barriers?. ‧. y. Nat. Smartphones can also allow expat’s to get in touch and keep in touch with new. io. sit. friends and contacts. Young Taiwanese people often use LINE, Facebook and other social. n. al. er. media to nurture existing relationships and make new friends. Hinton and Hjorth (2013). i n U. v. cite ‘participation’ as the single word that best summarizes the world of social media,. Ch. engchi. especially in a country like Taiwan where the mobile penetration rate is off the charts. Whether it be hitting the ‘like’ button on Facebook, commenting on a web page, creating content and posting it yourself, or even simply reading, listening to, and understanding another’s point of view, participating in this sphere can be essential when integrating into a new community and trying to sustain new professional and personal relationships. Additionally, doing so in a culturally acceptable manner can be challenging and could require a shift in sensibility on the part of the expat. In many ways the smartphone can be used as a tool to learn social norms (Stald 2008), understanding where lines are drawn in the social layout of their environment and how they might suitably interact with those around them. Nevertheless, social media can also be an insufficient conduit for.

(24) THE EXPAT’S SMARTPHONE AS AN INTEGRATION TOOL. 20. understanding intentions and values, especially when one’s digital identity doesn’t align with reality. The trials and tribulations expats face when building relationships overseas forms the basis of this study’s second issue:. RQ2: How do expats use smartphones to manage social relationships?. The smartphone can also act as a tool in keeping expats in contact with friends and family back home. While this might at first help to maintain their sense of identity and personal history, most expats will soon find the need to reach out to the immediate world around them. Identity in social sciences can be understood as the part of an. 政治大. individuals’ self-concept which derives from their knowledge of their membership of a. 立. social group, together with the value and the emotional significance attached to that. ‧ 國. 學. membership (Tajfel 2010). It is therefore not only how a person views themselves, but how others view them, and how they may believe others view them.. ‧. Engaging with social media and posting content, for example, can provide signals. y. Nat. about one’s personality and self-presentation. Sharing media and experiences allows. io. sit. users to “update oneself,” so as to remain current with one’s personal image and. n. al. er. aspirations (Stald 2008). Over time, expats form a distinct version of themselves centered. i n U. v. in Taiwan. After a while, shared pictures of home eventually become shared pictures of. Ch. engchi. friends, trips and experiences around Taiwan. One’s identity may branch out from simply being an expat, to being a student, a teacher, a friend, a love interest, and a part of smaller groups and sub-cultures within Taiwan. Jameson (2007) refers to this ‘completed shapshot’ as an integral part of both piecing oneself together culturally and defining one’s own distinctive presence in society. As an expat lives and grows in Taiwan their cultural identity undeniably shifts, but the intertwined parts of one’s unique whole will always add up to 100%. This process and its complications make up this study’s final research question:. RQ3: How do expats use smartphones to form their identities overseas?.

(25) THE EXPAT’S SMARTPHONE AS AN INTEGRATION TOOL. 21. Together, the exploration of these topics offers a vivid picture of the expat in Taiwan. It’s apparent that simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answers to these questions are neither plausible nor sufficient. Rather, a detailed, ethnographic approach, relying on one-on-one interviews and in-depth observations, can shed light on the successes and pitfalls of expats using their smartphone to live and thrive in Taiwan.. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v.

(26) THE EXPAT’S SMARTPHONE AS AN INTEGRATION TOOL. 22. Chapter 3 Methodology Ethnographic Research Strategy It’s worth reiterating that many media ethnographers working with cultures foreign to them run into difficulties attaining any rapport with their subjects and often lack a sense of intimacy. This can be attributed to the simple issues of distance and convenience, both of which this study manages to overcome. As an American expat with three years of living experience under my belt, I’m no stranger to many of the ups and. 政治大. downs foreigners experience while living in Taiwan. I know what it’s like to rely on your smartphone to interact with Taiwanese locals, because I do it everyday. I understand the. 立. difficulty in trying to learn and use Chinese as a second language, because I study and. ‧ 國. 學. speak it myself every time I leave home. This allows me to view their situation from a truly emic perspective, from the inside, which can be an anthropological gift in and of. ‧. itself (Harris 1976).. y. Nat. On a fundamental level, this also means I’m physically available for one-on-one. io. sit. interactions. This research is not solely based on smartphone habits, but rather, how these. n. al. er. tendencies affect subjects in an emotional and developmental context. When a particular. i n U. v. event holds emotional value for someone, oftentimes facial expressions, eye contact and. Ch. engchi. physical cues can reveal much more about how someone really feels about a situation than their words tend to convey. The importance of presence and attention cannot be overstated in ethnography and needs to be addressed in the realm of media ethnography. Of course, this alone doesn’t qualify me to perform worthwhile interviews. Holstein (1995) stresses the significance of building a relationship with your interviewees, of engaging in genuine conversation rather than terse, formal Q&A sessions. I have the advantage of familiarity. My subjects haven’t simply been plucked out of a crowd, but are individuals I have come to know and understand through my time living in Taiwan. I know their backgrounds, I’m accustomed to their quirks, and I can recognize their inconsistencies and contradictions when they appear in conversation and.

(27) THE EXPAT’S SMARTPHONE AS AN INTEGRATION TOOL. 23. daily life. For all these reasons, this particular brand of ethnography seems to lend itself to my own circumstances. What’s lacking in the subject matter (smartphones) and what’s lacking in the research methods (intimacy and presence) are both right at my fingertips. Throughout the rapid evolution of the field of media anthropology the ethnographic technique has adopted some new idiosyncrasies and research schemes, but the framework of the method remains the same. Ethnography as a written account focuses on a particular population, place and time for the purpose of describing it to others (Barnard & Spencer 1996). It can also be understood as a long, complex definition of a culture (Ginsburg, Abu-Lughod & Larkin 2002). When we study society or an individual, we gain access into discovering what exactly this subject’s identity, its definition, is. The. 政治大. blueprint of a successful ethnography consists of interviews and participant observation.. 立. These two strategies are distinct, but often overlap each other and may be undertaken at. ‧ 國. 學. the same time. This approach can be termed as “participation-whileinterviewing” (Hannam, Sheller & Urry 2006).. ‧. Holstein (1995) describes a successful interview as one that remains “active.”. y. Nat. Regardless of the how an interview takes shape and progresses, interactional, interpretive. io. sit. activity is universal and unavoidable. An interviewer will in some way, shape or form. n. al. er. become a participant and a learner in the story they seek to disclose. Spradley (1979). i n U. v. asserts this same rule of thumb in his guide to successful interviewing processes, The. Ch. engchi. Ethnographic Interview, “Rather than studying from people, ethnography means learning from people.” It’s important not to imagine the interview subject as a stocked pond of information waiting to be fished out, but rather as a contemporary, someone as rich, complex and ever-changing as the interviewer themselves. La Pastina (2005) adds, “I believe that good ethnographic work has to make that self-reflexive relationship clear and build on that knowledge of our own limitations and the role we have in the research process, but it must also acknowledge the central and vital role community members have in the final research product.” Additionally, Holstein (1995) posits that a productive interview is always under construction, being built and rebuilt. Therefore, when mining your results post-interview.

(28) THE EXPAT’S SMARTPHONE AS AN INTEGRATION TOOL. 24. it is best not to whittle down findings into a blunt summary, rather than deconstruct, survey and understand them as you would the parts of a car or the rooms of a house. The second strategy of ethnographic studies, participant observation, is in short, “living with the people being studied” (Delamont 2004). This key point traces all the way back to one of the founders of modern anthropology, Bronislaw Malinowski (1922), who in the early 20th century championed authentic, hands-on fieldwork to fully realize his subject’s motivations. This was in direct contrast to his predecessors’ more sedentary research of cultures. In his own words, “The final goal…is to grasp the native’s point of view, his relation to life, to realize his vision of his world.” This is not to say that as a participant an interviewer must do exactly what those being observed do, but interacting. 政治大. with them while they do it is paramount in understanding any cultural phenomenon. It is. 立. also an indispensable accompaniment to interviews, because what people say very often. ‧ 國. 學. contradicts what they actually do (Mack, Woodsong, McQueen, Guest & Namey 2005). This is where the third-person effect comes into play as well, the tendency for people to. ‧. “overestimate the influence that mass communications have on the attitudes and behavior. y. Nat. of others” and “expect the communication to have a greater effect on others than on. n. al. er. io. inspecting smartphone use.. sit. themselves” (Davison 1983). This paradoxical phenomenon is certainly a factor when. i n U. v. Admittedly, Bronislaw Malinowski’s rustic work with indigenous cultures differs. Ch. engchi. greatly from that undertaken in this study and most media ethnographies. It’s easy to take shortcuts when your research subjects are often in armchairs themselves. However, now more than ever the social world and the technology that facilitates it are ubiquitous and mutually mobile (Cooper 2002), thus, there has been a push for a return to form in participant observation through media ethnography, harkening back to traditional practices where long-term, in-depth, site-specific, multi-method approaches took precedent (La Pastina 2005). This study recaptures these practices. Five informants, varied in age, sex and nationality, are all in different stages of career and language development. While one subject is currently entrenched in academics, another is simply concerned with the.

(29) THE EXPAT’S SMARTPHONE AS AN INTEGRATION TOOL. 25. amount of his next paycheck. For some, Chinese fluency is a goal, for others, ordering food is as complicated as it gets. Kyle, Kevin, Christina, Marcell and Anthony each came to Taiwan for different reasons. Christina and Anthony packed up and left their small American hometowns to experience a completely new and unfamiliar lifestyle. Marcell migrated from Hungary to get an education and search for a career. Kyle and Kevin had travelled Asia extensively before moving to Taiwan, so their reasoning was more a combination of the previous two rationale, they wanted a fresh start in a place both economically viable and welcoming to expats. They each started out as strangers and outsiders, but their identities have branched out over time. Kevin is a guru for foreigners and a husband, Marcell has found work as a. 政治大. video editor, Christina and Anthony are dedicated English teachers, and Kyle is now a. 立. farmer and a homeowner, he also plays an important role in this research as a foil to my. ‧. ‧ 國. smartphone.. 學. other subjects, as he for the most part spurns technology and has chosen not to use a. They are a diverse group to say the least, and this diversity played a large part in. y. Nat. seeking out my subject sample, as I didn’t want to end up with five explanations of. io. sit. essentially the same experience. Selection criteria was also based on reaching out to. n. al. er. different corners of Taiwan. The expat lifestyle in, say, the sardine-packed metropolis of. i n U. v. Taipei, is completely different than daily life in the tiny fishing town of Jiangjun. The. Ch. engchi. importance of diversifying locale cannot be understated here. The research itself will take shape through a series of recorded, one-on-one interviews. These interviews will be more casual and concerned with everyday life than they will be formal and heavily momentous. The second focus will be on in-depth, on-site participant observation of these individuals at school, work and home. Observation of their daily lifestyles will hopefully better explain their intentions and contradictions in using their smartphones to traverse their environment. The hope of this study is that, ultimately, their experiences will shed light on the expatriate experience in Taiwan, Taiwanese culture as a whole, and the smartphone’s place within them..

(30) THE EXPAT’S SMARTPHONE AS AN INTEGRATION TOOL. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. 1. Figure 1. Map of Each Subjects’ Locale Throughout Taiwan. v. 26.

(31) THE EXPAT’S SMARTPHONE AS AN INTEGRATION TOOL. 27. Chapter 4 Results Christina Christina has joined her friend in Taichung City for a facial. It is extremely hot outside and the two Western women breathe a sigh of relief as they step into the freon cold air-conditioned room, smelling of nail polish and strong shampoo. The young Taiwanese attendants smile and giggle when they see their new foreign clientele, “Hello! How are you? 好美麗啊 !” (Hǎo měilì a!, How beautiful!) They quickly take their customers’ hands and lead them to the recliner chairs where they lean back and prepare. 政治大. for an hour or so of unadulterated relaxation. This is a welcome respite for Christina, who. 立. teaches as much as 45 hours a week at the affiliated experimental high school of TungHai. ‧ 國. 學. University, (Dōngdà fùzhōng, 東⼤大附中). She has found the last 8 months of her life in Taichung particularly stressful, but rewarding nonetheless.. ‧. As she settles into her chair the Taiwanese attendant massages her cheeks and. y. Nat. covers her face in a green, odd-smelling exfoliating cream. The woman thinks for a. io. sit. moment, looking pensive, then grabs her smartphone off the small table beside her, “For. n. al. er. dead skin cells, for many years,” she says. Christina looks up at her, visibly confused. “什. i n U. v. 麼?” (Shénme?, What?）The attendant then describes, in Chinese, the cream she has. Ch. engchi. lathered onto her face. Christina listens intently, but the specific vocabulary the woman is using is out of her sphere of Chinese knowledge. “I’m sorry,” Christina says, “I don’t understand, 我的中⽂文不太好.” (wǒ de zhōngwén bù tài hǎo, my Chinese isn’t too good). The attendant nods her head sheepishly and returns to massaging Christina’s face. As the hour drags on, the woman continues to refer to her smartphone, using Google translate to express to Christina the purpose of each layer of cream or massage treatment. This seems to be quite tiring for Christina, who closes her eyes between each awkward exchange. The translations are actually strange arrangements of English words and phrases that range between being hilarious, mildly offensive and completely.

(32) THE EXPAT’S SMARTPHONE AS AN INTEGRATION TOOL. 28. unintelligible. At one point the attendant grazes the back of her hand across Christina’s forehead, she then types something into her phone and says, “Your skin is very buttery, you have too many holes.” Christina laughs. The situation has become exceedingly uncomfortable, but she takes it in stride and sits through the rest of the treatment. After she’s finished we stop by a local Western-style restaurant in Taichung and she describes to me over coffee just how unpleasant the experience was. “I think she felt like every time she put something on my face she had to tell me what it was she was doing…I wanted to be like, ‘Stop, just turn your phone off!’” This has been a common obstacle since Christina moved to Taichung. Translation software seems to impede upon her everyday interactions with Taiwanese people. Rather than practice her Chinese skills. 政治大. or them their English ability, the smartphone appears instead, its omnipotence rendering language skills unnecessary.. 立. ‧ 國. 學. This is a difficult predicament. Although Christina would much rather have natural, face-to-face conversations with those around her, sometimes the smartphone is. ‧. absolutely necessary to make a connection or take care of minor errands. On one. y. Nat. occasion she stopped into a small scooter shop to purchase a new helmet. Unable to. io. sit. properly describe what she needed, her smartphone, armed with Google translate, was. n. al. er. passed between herself and the scooter shop owner until a deal was made. Both parties. i n U. v. would type what they wanted to say into the phone, then it voiced the expression back in. Ch. engchi. the other’s native tongue. It seems that in utilitarian instances her smartphone acts as a mutual friend, but in social instances, it’s actually an obstacle. “I notice Taiwanese people who use it more to speak to me. They don’t even want to try at all to say something to me, they just want to use Google translate and show it.” The mobile penetration rate in Taiwan has been startling to Christina since moving to Taiwan three years ago. At first, living and teaching for a year and a half in the industrial suburb of Changhua, she didn’t notice the regularity quite so much, but now, living in the more densely populated, urbanized city of Taichung, the commonality of smartphone use is more apparent than ever, “I think because there’s so many people.

(33) THE EXPAT’S SMARTPHONE AS AN INTEGRATION TOOL. 29. living in such a small area I notice it more. I see people driving their scooter and looking at their phone. I think I notice it more here, just because I see so many people.” This social environment is cut from a different cloth than that of her hometown. Coming from Monroe County, Pennsylvania, you’d have to shout down the road to get your neighbors attention. Boys drove their tractors to school to show off, people operated farms and hunted for sport, and everyone knew their neighbors not because they were like you or had anything in common, but because they were within walking distance of your house. Incidentally, there weren’t even cell phone towers in Monroe county until recently, and using your mobile phone was something you could only do in town or in school. Upon first moving abroad, Christina chose central Taiwan because it was, in the. 政治大. words of her first employer, “a small town.” Culturally disparate, certainly, but spatially. 立. relatable to her home. This put her mind at ease when making her decision to live and. ‧ 國. 學. work in Taiwan, but she soon found the definition of a “small town” in Taiwan was worlds away from what it is in America.. ‧. y. Nat. To me a small town is where I grew up. So I’m thinking ‘Small town, oh, this is. io. sit. like the middle of nowhere.’ Then I got to Changhua and it was like, to me, now. n. al. er. living here I can see it’s like a small town compared to other places, but, just the. i n U. v. amount of stuff that’s there and all the lights and everything, I was like, ‘This is not what I expected.’. Ch. engchi. The spatial layout has been a struggle for Christina, not only because of traffic jams or crowded restaurants, but because the sheer population density also, in her view, negatively affects social relationships, “I notice how Taiwanese people, when there’s a group of them out to eat or something, and like all eight of them are on their phone, not talking.” This is a common sight in Taiwan, especially in big cities. Because people are around each other day in day out, often in very close proximity, the smartphone acts as a welcome lull in social interaction. It offers people the ability to be alone in a setting that rarely physically allows it. However, for an expat coming from a small farming town, the.

(34) THE EXPAT’S SMARTPHONE AS AN INTEGRATION TOOL. 30. intention of constant public smartphone use is understandably different “I don’t know, I just feel like I can’t talk to people normally. It’s useful sometimes but it’s also like, c’mon, why would you even leave your house if you just want to use your phone? How do people even make friends anymore?” I can hear the hesitation in her voice when she criticizes Taiwanese customs, because she more than anything wanted “something completely different” when she made her decision to move abroad. Now she is dealing with these differences, the true crux of cultural disparity, and she seems to realize that although cultural obstacles can be difficult to overcome, dealing with them is something she wants out of life. She is willing to change her daily habits, to persevere through confusing interactions, and to work hard to make a living.. 立. 政治大. Christina works long hours most weekdays, 7am until 5pm, plus she puts in. ‧ 國. 學. several hours a week planning lesson materials and grading papers. She is, more so than any other expat I know, fully dedicated to her job. This consequently has formed a large. ‧. part of Christina’s identity in Taiwan, that of an English teacher.. y. Nat. For a lot of Taiwanese students, class with a foreign teacher is more casual,. io. sit. conversational, and relaxed than with their Taiwanese teachers. The guidelines that. n. al. er. usually delegate how they conduct themselves in school are often disregarded when an. i n U. v. expat is at the blackboard. In Christina’s classroom, the students aren’t especially rude or. Ch. engchi. rowdy, but they have managed to bend the rules regarding smartphones in their favor. While in any other class the appearance of a student’s smartphone would result in it being taken away until further notice, and possibly a phone call home, in English class there’s a different standard, “That’s a huge struggle. So they’re not allowed to have them and in their other classes I don’t think they have them, and I think they take advantage of foreign teachers. They think we’re not as strict so they’ll kind of like have them, um, I made the mistake of being relaxed with it to start off, so now it’s gotten worse.” She sighs, irritated, and scratches her head, “They think I don’t see it. Like even if you have it here,” she pantomimes a student hiding their smartphone inside their desk, “I can still see you’re.