Never underestimate academia’s ability to obscure the obvious. Thefts of iPods and cellphones have shot up recently on NYC subways. Cops say the bad guys aren’t reselling they booty; they’re just keeping it for personal use. Here’s how Henry Jenkins, the director of the Comparative Media Studies Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, put it:
“The participation gap creates techno-envy, where the kids who are locked out of participation in the culture covet those tools and devices that are considered essential to being a young person.”
And here’s how the NYPD’s chief of transportation put it:
“The thieves are upgrading their cellphones.”
Here’s the whole story.