We are on the threshold of a decade, or so, since the rise of social media games like FarmVille and Zombie Farming. These games are designed to connect users to other users through temporally-structured mundane activities, quests, and goals which lead to achievements. To gain an achievement took time, and interaction, which would frustrate users who became consumed by the mindlessness, numbness of these games. So, of course, the game designers built in a pay-option to expedite the game for users who could afford it.
These farming games made, and continue to make, a lot of money. But, in recent years, amateur technologists and DIY entrepreneurs have struck back, cultivating a way to make money through technology instead of feed their money to technology through farming as evidenced through the rise of phone farms. Phone farmers are technology users who employ multiple devices to click ads, watch videos, and consume media for fractions of cents. Financial returns for phone farmers vary depending on the size of their farm but can make anywhere from $20-$1,000 per month. People making money on and from the internet is not revelatory—in fact, there may be no more impactful relationship in our histories than one forever gestating between capitalism and the digital age. But, how does phone farming reflect our current socio-economic moment when contextualized against our present political landscape? It my own experiences, it seems to be the norm for many young professionals—not just academics—have a side hustle. Between us, my wife, who is registered nurse, and I work five jobs. She works three and I work two, and we are both enrolled in university programs. I mention this not to boost my self-esteem, or ego, but to say this is the norm for many people. Since so many people do maintain extra ways of making money, and with our current administration blatantly ignoring the plights of low-income and marginalized communities, I suspect we will continue to see a rise in phone farming. So, how will a rise in phone farming impact digital identity co-construction? The apps, which provide the platforms for phone farmers to constantly click and watch videos across multiple devices—from two to hundreds—to make money often times think that the same user is multiple people, which will, ultimately, be misleading in the datasets constructed from the data gained through the constant interactions of phone farmers. It is hard to know, then, exactly what the implications are for large-scale phone farming, but it is a phenomenon is worth continued examination. The first photos I saw of phone farms reminded me of scenes from dystopian science-fiction or technology-driven action shows and movies which always feature some hacker or goofy, yet technologically savvy, best friend or sidekick. This western trope was only adapted for these genres in the form of characters in dark, dingy basements lit by multiple computer screens hard at work. It is time I embrace my sidekick-ness and start phone farming to make a little extra dough. So, I plan to turn my garage work area into a small-scale phone farm in the next few months. Perhaps this is a better way to solve the student debt problem? I don’t know; I still want to know more about a freedom dividend, but I know phone farming sure is going to help us in the immediate future.
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Charles WoodsPhD student focusing on Rhetoric, Composition, and Technical Communication at Illinois State University. Archives
October 2019
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