The Social Affordances of Flashpacking:
Exploring the Mobility Nexus of Travel
and Communication
Even though Richards and Wilson say in the introduction that the backpacker is a cultural
symbol of how the modern workforce is more nomadic, travel blogger Matt Kepnes of
NomadicMatt says that those days are long gone. He also says that in 2006, he rarely saw
anyone with a cell phone, but that has changed now since smartphones are everywhere. Even
scarier, he says that the whole point of backpacking has changed, and that this is neither good
nor bad. Rather, as a sign of how our times are both connected and different. Matt says that
the flashpacker has become a symbol of how our globalized society is becoming more
mobile, mediated, and connected. Internet access and cell phones have given people who are
always on the go new ways to talk to each other. This means rethinking the relationship
between the personal and the public and finding new ways to coordinate people, groups, and
events. The needs and characteristics of co-presence have been "mobilized" into a new
"mobility nexus" by the growing integration of different ways to travel and talk to each other.
Richards and Wilson say that tourism is a great example of a new "mobility nexus." This is
especially true now that more tourists, travellers, and backpackers bring mobile devices on
their trips and move back and forth between virtual and physical co-presence with social
networks far away. Also, when people travel today, they talk on the phone, surf the web, and
watch videos all at the same time.
In the beginning of the article, it starts talking about how backpacking changed to
Flashpacking by saying that since "drifter" travel became popular in the 1970s, academics
have been interested in how backpackers interact with locals, other travellers, and their
friends and family back home. They also looked at how these interactions affected the plans
and habits of travellers while they were on the road. This has led to more and more research
trying to figure out how new social technologies like smart phones, laptop computers, travel
blogs, and online social networking sites change and grow backpackers' ability to get along
with other people. This is a "flashpacking" trend.
Flashpackers "have the tools to move easily around the world through different travel
landscapes" because of this. They can also "connect instantly to multiple networks from
almost anywhere using a number of mobile technologies." The second meaning of
"flashpacking" is how more and more backpackers use social media and new technologies.
Then it talks about affordances by stating that Gibson's idea of "affordances" has been used
by a number of scholars to explain how bodies, places, technologies, and performances all
work together in the context of tourism. When the shapes, obstacles, paths, and textures of
places are compared to the physical abilities of the body, some performances are made
possible while others are made impossible. Gibson's idea of "affordances" has important
implications for tourism studies. It has given theorists new ways to think about the material
and multisensory parts of tourist performances. Larsen's analysis shows how digital
photography technologies and social practices interact in complex ways. This suggests that
we should think about new technologies not only in terms of their physical and perceived
affordances, but also in terms of their social affordances. Other people who study tourism
have also noticed how different places allow or prevent visitors from doing certain things.
These scholars have done a good job of using the idea of "affordance" to change the way they
think about tourist places and performances. Instead of being pre-made containers for tourist
activities, tourist places and performances are now seen as fluid, connected, and related.
Gibson means by "affordance" the ways in which the physical qualities of a certain
environment make it possible or impossible for certain embodied performances to happen
there. Describe how the beach, with its unique combination of wet and dry sand, stones, and
sticks, as well as the family assemblages of eager youngsters and indulgent parents, makes it
possible for people to undertake sandcastle construction at the beach.
In the methodology Richards and Wilson talk about ethnography and say that ethnography
has been a good way to study the mobility and cultures of backpackers because it focuses on
long-term presence in communities of practice. This has allowed researchers to get to know
travellers better. Traditional ethnography, on the other hand, requires being immersed in a
place and going "into the field." This is hard to do with backpackers, who, by definition, are
"an un-territorialized community characterized by impromptu social interactions." A mobile
virtual ethnographic approach thinks of the field as a place where people can interact in
different ways at different places. It is located in both real and virtual places, like the different
places where backpackers go. This meant that we had to move with our respondents across
both real and virtual spaces. This meant getting involved in the "blogosphere" and the
"statusphere," which are interactive online worlds where people constantly update their status
on social networking sites and travel blogs. We spent a lot of time "hanging out" online and
following along as our respondents moved through these hybrid spaces, tweeted updates,
posted digital photos and videos online, wrote blog posts, linked to other flashpackers' social
networking profiles, mapped their location on Google Earth, commented on other travel
blogs, or replied to comments on their own blogs. Also, because these mediated forms of copresence can last over time and space, they made it possible for people to stay in touch with
backpackers for long periods of time.
Richards and Wilson describe what they see as four key social affordances of flashpacking:
Virtual mooring in the statusphere:
The statusphere, which is defined as the state of publishing, reading, responding to, and
sharing micro-sized updates, is dominated by social media platforms like blogs and online
social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. Second, the statusphere has changed the
way people talk and interact with each other online. Peers now share and pick what to share
with the stratosphere. Social networking tools like Twitter's "RT" (Twitter Re-tweet) and
Facebook's "likes" and comments give people more control over how information spreads
and how people connect with each other. These small actions have an effect on the whole
social graph, causing a lot of movement and activity that can be tracked. This content makes
a mix between backpackers' "road culture" and their "virtual culture" by bringing together
real-world experiences and spaces in the statusphere. Third, the statusphere becomes a place
where backpackers can connect virtually, not just as individuals but as a group.
Following:
In fact, "following" is now a common way to talk about how people talk to each other on
social media sites. There are a number of ways in which status updates and travel blogs
change the way people interact with each other. First of all, travel blogs are written in reverse
chronological order, which makes them feel like serials and draws readers into the story.
Following gives readers, a sense of being close to the traveller on a day-to-day basis as they
learn about small things that happen along the way, like the traveller growing facial hair or
getting sick.
But if you want to be a part of the traveller's journey as it happens, you have to read the blog
every day. Following someone on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter gives you a
feeling of "ambient intimacy" by giving you access to the details of someone's everyday life,
no matter how mundane they are. So, in the case of travel blogs, following is not just useful,
but also has an effect. It lets the traveller's friends, family, and even strangers feel
emotionally connected to them, give them a sense of control, care about them from afar, or
travel with them in a way.
Collaborating:
The social technologies that flashpackers like give travellers new ways to connect with their
friends and family back home. They also give travellers new ways to connect with other
travellers on the road. In many ways, flashpacking expands the tight communication
networks that have been a part of backpacker culture for a long time. This often helps
travellers become part of the backpacker culture. Cohen noticed in his early study of
"drifters" that travellers with more experience tell new travellers what they know. As more
and more backpackers bring technology on their trips, the information that travellers share
also changes.
Now, travellers give each other advice not only about where to go or what to do on the trip,
but also about how to be a flashpacker. In some ways, flashpacking gives female travellers,
especially those who want to travel alone, new options by making them feel safe and part of a
group.
(dis)connecting.
So far, the article talked about how social media and networking technologies let backpackers
stay in touch and work together while they're on the move. However, these technologies also
let backpackers disconnect in new ways. This can happen because someone doesn't want to
be disconnected from their local environment, because the power goes out or because they
don't have Internet access, or because someone wants to manage the constant availability of
flashpacking. In the early days of flashpacking, being able to connect to the Internet from
remote places was a big deal. Now, flashpackers find it more interesting when they can't
connect than when they can.
Flashpackers often say that they go out of their way to warn their friends, families, and
especially their parents before going to "dead zones." However, sometimes travellers use
these technologies to stay away from their online audience or social network.
Some travellers change identifying information on their blogs or wait to post blog entries on
purpose so that people who read them online don't know where they are. Many of the
flashpackers who were interviewed said that they moved their close relationships to Facebook
or email, where they had more control over who could see their status updates, and used
Twitter or their travel blogs for public social interactions because they were easier to access.
Conclusion:
Flashpacking is quickly becoming the norm. When you share things on social media, the
internet makes it easy for people from all over the world to find out about your travels. A lot
of backpackers don't keep blogs. Instead, they just post updates and photos from time to time
on Facebook. This shows that most travellers are now used to using new technologies on their
trips. Logging into Facebook, sending emails home, uploading photos, or texting friends is
now a normal part of a mobile lifestyle, and people do these things so that friends and family
can keep up with them but also strangers. Flashpacking gives a new way to look at questions
about privacy and surveillance online that keep coming up. Maybe the most interesting thing
about flashpackers is how they come up with different ways to avoid their social networks.
Flashpackers fight against the goal of technologically mediated togetherness by trying to
avoid, control, and manage how accessible they are and to whom. Exploring the social
benefits of flashpacking tells us less about the technology itself and more about what
travellers want and worry about when they are mobile and connected. Whether or not
travellers pack digital devices and travel as "flashpackers," the almost universal spread of
smartphones, portable computers, social media and networking technologies, and other
similar technologies has changed the way people travel and the world they visit. The social
benefits of flashpacking that we've talked about here give us a glimpse into how backpacking
is changing, but they also show how our way of being together is changing in a society that is
becoming more mobile and connected.