Opinion: Balancing care and surveillance with smartphones and contact tracing

The development of smartphone technology aimed at curbing the spread of a pandemic across the globe has exposed a fine line between individual privacy and collective welfare, says Professor Daniel Miller (UCL Anthropology). The astonishing rise of smartphones in everyday life has created many solutions (GPS maps, internet browsing and messaging, to name just a few). But they have also brought new moral dilemmas. One issue in particular stands out in the wake of the pandemic - the fine line between care and surveillance. We highlighted this tension in an extensive project which examined the use and consequences of smartphones around the world. The study was made up of 11 researchers who each spent 16 months in nine countries. Our research revealed how smartphones have demonstrably increased the human capacity for care.