Mirosław Filiciak, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor at the Department of Cultural and Media Studies in Warsaw and Director of SWPS University’s Institute of Humanities. He is also a member of the Expert Group of the Pan-European Game Information (PEGI). As a teenager, he was a self-professed geek and a pop culture nerd, who followed his passion and interests all the way to his doctoral dissertation and turned them into a successful academic and research career. Professor Filiciak is interested in cultural participation in the context of new media. Currently, his team is conducting an ethnographic study on smartphones. The researchers are studying how people use smartphones and, what is equally interesting, how smartphones use people. They also research how smartphone and app design impact human behavior and life, even on the most intimate level. To observe different aspects of human-smartphone interaction, the researchers have devised a method where users are given objects closely resembling smartphones, but which are made of stone. This allows the researchers to observe how smartphones impact muscle memory, unconscious movements, and people's habits.
What I appreciate most about academic and research work is an opportunity to meet many interesting people, an opportunity to be a part of teams with people from very different backgrounds. My background is cultural studies and film studies, but after my Ph.D. I worked on some projects with people specializing in sociology and ethnography, and it is like growing another brain or another hand - the acquiring of new skills, and you can do it over your entire career, and I find it fascinating.
Mirosław Filiciak
Ph.D. / Associate Professor
Hear Prof. Filiciak speak about:
The impact of new technologies on people’s lives and political power
Smartphones are not just devices that we own. Smartphones also own us and they impact our lives in numerous ways. They provide us with 24/7 access to the Internet and social networks, which on the one hand is convenient, but on the other hand imposes certain obligations on us as members of social networks. Smartphones also track our behaviors, movements, and all our online and offline activities, which hands a lot of power to large organizations, such as corporations and also to governments.
Read more about Prof. Filiciak's research