architecture++

The ongoing shift of functions from urban and architectural to bodily real estate inverts some familiar customs and rituals. You once slipped into a telephone booth to make a call […], but you now slip a cellphone out of your pocket. Playing music through a stereo system at a party is a social gesture, but playing it through [an iPod] is a way to withdraw. In a movie theatre you look for a good seat and orient your eyes to the screen; with a portable display, you sit down anywhere and arrange the screen in front of your eyes.