Communication devices only recently displaced music technology as the emblem of the technological present

Evidence

Indeed, smartphones and tablets are increasingly becoming — if not exclusively — the image of what the present is; of the extent to which communication technology has completely colonised our sense of what technology is. This is another symptomatic phenomenon of the twenty-first century. Now, think about it: how much did we really care about communication devices in the twentieth century? We cared a lot about music technology because we could hear that… But phone calls and stuff like that: who really cared? — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk, 2298

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Media devices now function as talismans of connectivity rather than instruments of listening — Mark Fisher, Capitalist Realism: Is There No…, 52; Ubiquitous smartphones drained tech of its status and coolness; Music led culture by giving the new palpable form, a capacity now lost — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk: The Collected and Unpublished…, 1241

Broader Connections

• Media devices now function as talismans of connectivity rather than instruments of listening #expands (0.82) — Mark Fisher, Capitalist Realism, 52
• Music led culture by giving the new palpable form, a capacity now lost #corroborates (0.80) — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk, 1241
• Ubiquitous smartphones drained tech of its status and coolness #qualifies (0.78)