‘I recorded my movements in the smartphone’: differently reproduced speeds of posthuman bodies

Abstract

This paper aims to contribute to digitally mediated mobilities literature by studying ordinary people’s differential mobilities within a contact tracing system called the ‘Electronic Entry Register’ formulated by the South Korean government during the COVID-19 pandemic. Employing the posthumanist perspective, this empirical study examines differential mobilities produced by the smartphone-holding citizens on the move, focusing on the agential capacities differentiated through their performances for digital mediations. Consequently, a sequence of field research comprising a walking interview, observation, and sit-in interview was conducted in Seoul during the pandemic. While most research participants acknowledged that they were profoundly affected by the mode of control imposed by the tracing system, many actively strove to strengthen their body-smartphone prosthetic-ness to technically enhance their mobilities, particularly by internalising some procedures into the smartphone. Their differential capacities in turn mutated their embodied speeds and the overall progression within the tracing system, which some others found difficult to catch up with. Subsequently, the researcher discusses the political significance of differentiated agential capacities at the sites of technological mediations and proposes the posthuman body as a useful unit of analysis for critical studies on digitally mediated mobilities.