TIME magazine: Using social media in Afghanistan
1 september 2011
August 30 Time magazine published a fantastic article on their website about the use of laptops, mobile phones and social media in a warzone. I wanted to share my view on this, since this is my main research subject , and because a couple of interesting things emerge from the interviews with soldiers.
First of, the staggering increase in the availability of those devices amongst soldiers. Everyone has a laptop, an iphone or a blackberry wih them, a big change since the start of the Iraq war in 2003, when one soldier, staff sergeant Jong Fox, 32 yo, recalls that only 3 or four guys brought out laptops and the had a 10 minute phonecall home a week. That’s only eight years ago. I already know that nowadays everybody has these devices, but it sure is a steep climb, graphtechnically speaking.
Second observation: The way soldiers make their choices about what they do and what they dont share support my theory as written in my masterthesis that they think about what they share online. The are apprehensive about sharing stories about firefights and the ugly side of their job their. They know it’s on the news at home (or they think), but that kind of news keeps it more abstract for the homefront, if soldiers start sharing their own contacts with the enemy it would stress out the homefront too much, one soldier called Napoli tells the journalist.
Third observation: One soldier tells that he got really homesick from calling home every day, which made him want to call his mum even more. This triggered me!
In 2008, John Paul Eakin wrote a book about the different narratives we have in our daily lives because these narratives are based on the different identities we have: Someone is talking differently about himself at work than at home or amongst friends. this story is based on a set of norms that is commonly accepted within those groups. So, a soldier behaves a certain way and talks about himself a certain way, because he is within the military. When on a mission that identity of the soldier is something different than the identity of being a father, a son or a friend with people at home. So he talks differntly about himself as well.
What the soldier is telling in the Time article is a clear indication that the availability of social media and instant communication erodes the barriers between the battlefield and the homefront. He got homesick and kept calling his mother.Now i’m being hypothetical here; but what if the set of norms on which the soldier in afghanistan or Iraq makes his desciscions about what he shares online is infected with the norms of his narrative on the homefront? Can this change the way he decides what he can and what he can’t share online. In other words: Does social media and mobile phones take away some psychological barriers between home and the front, and can a soldier who has lots of contact with home start to make some descicions based partly on his role as a friend or a son? Ofcourse there will hardly be a 100% identitycrisis where a soldiers starts behaving like he is with his mother, but what if it is only adds one percent ‘homefrontidentity’, how does that influence his narrative ? Just a thought, but a interesting one if i may say so.
Fourth observation: Looking at the first three observations i am starting to doubt the use all those communicationpossibilities have. It is there, so people use it. But this article suggests that it can effect morale and battlefield awareness in a negative way. If someone has one foot at home all the time, how can he be one hundred percent ready when going on patrol.
Forbid it?
So, should we forbid social media, telephones and internet amongst soldiers? (bang! i said it!) Answer: NO.
I still believe, based on my research, that social media is a great tool for influencing the framing of news and the way the efforts of those soldiers are framed in the media. Surely, facebook helps adding some kind of barrier, making the contact more impersonal, but its still in realtime and very multimedia-ish. Maybe the use of social media to keep in touch with the homefront is not as great as it seems at first sight and some kind of timelag should be inserted.
But where it comes to the continious communication possibilities soldiers have with home, some restrictions can help keeping the military focused on its mission. It keeps the front and the homefront seperated. And thats not my idea alone, i quote a soldier: