I am inside a small cafe on the Left bank of the river in Astana where all of the new government buildings have been built. The cafe is empty as I strategically arrived here just after the lunch rush. There is one table occupied besides mine, where three people are hanging out with their iphones on the table in front of them. They periodically pick up the iphones and check on a point in conversation, usually in jest. There is wifi here so they are freely browsing the Internet, talking about googling (googlit' in Russian) and the particulars of Russian and Kazakh languages and how transliterations return really funny results.
These kinds of moments are common both here in Astana and in Almaty. A lot of people carry more than one phone and many carry a regular phone and what they call a "communicator" - usually an iphone or some form of smart phone. They use these devices to access the Internet extensively. In fact accessing the Internet through the phone is common, even for people who do not own a computer or really have much access to the Internet outside limited access at work or through an Internet cafe. Even regular phones with small screens are often used to read and respond to email and check status updates from any one of the three popular social network sites. I once spent an evening hanging out with five young Astana professionals. It turned out that between the five of them, they carried 13 phones of various kinds. At least four were 'communicators'. These weren't very rich 'professionals', but people who thought long and hard whether to spend about the equivalent of $8-10 on a meal and usually refrained. Young and only a few years out of college, they considered the Internet an integral part of their life so data costs were important and food could be bought cheaper elsewhere. Phone calls and data are NOT cheap here and many cut costs by having several phone numbers one on each provider because they are usually deals for within-network calling, but this isn't case all the time. Sometimes an old simcard is used to call just three or four phone numbers exclusively because that's the number that's always been used. Sometimes a phone is used because data costs on that simcard are cheaper and calls are cheaper on another one, both from the same provider. The practice is so common that there are special pouches for sale that accommodate more than one phone. There are now phones that can take two or more simcards and switch between them with a click of a button.
Mobile Internet is an important part of life and it is used here far more frequently than I have seen it used in Europe or US especially by non-iphone users. Many times I've heard the statement to the tune of 'we don't have the money for a laptop, but you can access the internet with your phone and check email, so you don't really need anything else." Once again, this is a case of Internet is for finding people and talking with them rather than for information seeking. The majority of information seeking seems to be more work-related for people who do not use the Internet extensively. Some of it has to do with showing off the websites of relatives to co-workers but these are rare occasions. Moreover, workers know that their IT managers watch their Internet use closely, sometimes clamping down with severe sanctions. In one story a young man was using a social network site that he usually left on in the background while he worked. After a few months of this he got a notice that indicated that he had used the Internet improperly and that as a sanction, his access to the Internet was going to be cut off for two months, which happened the same day. This almost sounds like a parent grounding their child and indeed at first he was distraught, but now he is used to it, although he is really looking forward to next week when his Internet will finally get turned back on. No, he won't be accessing SNSs anymore... but there are other things to do on the Internet.
The two most common jokes that I had heard about the Internet so far have been: you get on the internet for 10 minutes and 3 hours rushes by; and... if you are in the internet.. there is nothing but you don't want to leave anyway, that's why farmville is so popular (yes farmville is here and LOTS of people play it). In general though, the Internet is still peripheral to some extent - an opportunity, a way to maintain relationships, but the real maintenance happens through phone calls and visits anyway. Yes there are instances of reconnection with long lost friends or relatives, but these are exciting and at the same time uncertain and vaguely unsettling. There are stories of activating remote social ties in work situations, when a quick translation or advice is needed, but with many companies blocking SNSs this doesn't happen very often anymore. Certainly there are stories of finding life partners on the Internet, but it is seen as just another place to meet at first... the real test comes in physical encounters. In many ways, it is almost as if the Internet adds to the background noise of possibilities but the gray reality of the everyday takes over, especially here in Astana, where people work inordinate amounts, usually get paid very little if they work on government jobs, and feel exposed because they know they are constantly watched.
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