The role of ICTs in everyday mobile lives (original) (raw)
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On the Move: Technology, Mobility, and the Mediation of Social Time and Space
The Information Society, 2002
The current explosion in mobile computing and telecommunications technologies holds the potential to transform "everyday" time and space, as well as changes to the rhythms of social institutions. Sociologists are only just beginning to explore what the notion of "mobility" might mean when mediated through computing and communications technologies, and so far, the sociological treatment has been largely theoretical. This article seeks instead to explore how a number of dimensions of time and space are being newly reconstructed through the use of mobile communications technologies in everyday life. The article draws on long-term ethnographic research entitled "The Socio-Technical Shaping of Mobile Multimedia Personal Communications," conducted at the University of Surrey. This research has involved ethnographic eldwork conducted in a variety of locales and with a number of groups. This research is used here as a resource to explore how mobile communications technologies mediate time in relation to mobile spaces. First the paper offers a review and critique of some of the major sociological approaches to understanding time and space. This review entails a discussion of how social practices and institutions are maintained and/or transformed via mobile technologies. Ethnographic data is used to explore emerging mobile temporalities. Three interconnected domains in mobile time are proposed: rhythms of mobile use, rhythms of mobile use in everyday life, and rhythms of mobility and institutional change. The article argues that while these mobile temporalities are emerging, and offer new ways of acting in and perceiving time and space, the practical construction of mobile time in everyday life remains rmly connected to well-established time-based social practices, whether these be ; web site: http://www.soc.surrey.ac.uk institutional (such as clock time, "work time") or subjective (such as "family time").
Mobiles everywhere Youth, the mobile phone, and changes in everyday practice Young
This article explores how young people's everyday patterns of social communication are affected by the increased use of mobile phones. We discuss three areas in which there are potential implications: (i) contact patterns and face-to-face interaction; (ii) other forms of spatial mobility; and (iii) individual planning and use of time. Empirically, we focus on change and rely on a two-wave panel study of 40 young persons living in Göteborg, Sweden. Data were collected through time-use diaries and in-depth interviews. The results show that young people's total interactions with their social environment increase as the mobile promotes a fl exible lifestyle of instant exchange and constant updates. Thresholds — regarding space, time and content — for communicative action are reduced. A more impulsive practice of decision-making evolves and people become more careless about time-keeping. With the reduction in the constraints of time and space, the instant access of the mobile becomes diffi cult to refuse, and perceived dependency on mobiles increases.
Mobile Technology, Everyday Experience and Travel
2016
Connected mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets have evolved into extremely effective tools that support travelers. In order to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the relationship between everyday use of connected mobile devices and the travel experience, this study explores the mechanisms shaping the changes of travel experience through a two-stage model. The first stage describes the factors in people's daily lives influencing the use of connected mobile devices. The second stage describes the impact of use of mobile devices on different dimensions of the travel experience. The results of this study confirm that the use of mobile devices in daily life is significantly correlated with use of mobile devices in the travel context. However, the results point to a need for a stronger theoretical foundation identifying the processes shaping the transition from the daily context to travel.
A Tethered Generation: Exploring the role of mobile phones in the daily life of young people
Mobile Media & Communication, 2014
The increasing global ubiquity of mobile phones has called into question their efficacy as dynamic tools for engagement and participation in daily life. While there is little argument in their growth as primary communication tools, scholars have actively debated their role as conduits for dynamic and diverse, information flow. This study explores how an international cohort of university students uses mobile phones for daily communication and information needs. In spring 2012, 793 students from 8 universities on 3 continents participated in a 24-hour mobile tracking exercise and reflection to answer the questions: How are college students using mobile phones for daily communication and information needs? and, how do college students perceive of the role of mobile phones for communication and information needs in their daily lives? The findings point to a population tethered to their mobile devices primarily through social networking apps, to the extent that they find it increasingly difficult to distinguish relationships that exist in their pockets from those that exist in their physical surroundings. While the participants acknowledged the diverse and participatory capacity of mobile devices, their dependence on the phone for connecting to peers left them skeptical of the phone’s efficacy for productive connectivity, vibrant communication, and diverse information consumption in daily life. The study concludes with suggestions for more inclusive and active engagement in the dynamic potential of phones that are not necessitated by a response to large-scale political or civil injustices
ICTs and the decoupling of everyday activities, space and time
This article is an introduction to and reflection on the papers about ICTs and everyday life in this issue. It outlines the motivations for the focus on the decoupling of activities, physical space and chronological time and characterises this process and three of its modalities: activity fragmentation; multi-tasking; and personalised networking. The piece concludes by singling out some common elements that run through the set of papers and by identifying four avenues for future research.
Smartphones and Temporalities in Everyday Life: A Research Agenda
This paper situates time/space at the center of a research agenda from a psycho-social perspective. Crucially, smartphones are not just objects of enquiry but also are tools for research. This article also examines some important sociological works in time and space relationships, especially about communication and information technology (ICT) as well as empirical research on smartphone usage. Particularly relevant is Csikszentmihalyi’s theory of flow, as it has been adapted to information technology research. The proposed research agenda could help us understand how the users make judgements and actual decisions while using smartphone communication mobile application programs (apps), and the role of time perception (as it is related to the flow experience) in this process. In addition, we are interested in how the users negotiate social space. In the long-term we are seeking clues about how these judgements impact new configurations in the intersection of the offline/online in everyday life situations. The need for more empirical work from a psycho-social perspective will be argued as well as the necessity to incorporate quantitative as well as qualitative methodological approaches. Finally, a brief discussion evaluating research on smartphone use and its social impact is presented.
2006
In the richer parts of the world, where social networks are stretched out and distant connections are common, it is increasingly difficult to meet up spontaneously.
In discussing the effect of the use of mobile phones, this chapter is not about the device itself but rather all that it engenders. The mobile phone is a means of achieving continuous connectivity provoking feelings of intimacy and of being permanently tethered to loved ones as well as of being on call to less welcome people. It is the ways that people have adapted existing social practices to manage this that lies at the heart of the explanation of whether or not people are affected by their mobile phones. Three case studies from research are used to provide an empirical context for examining the topic. This research was conducted during two years of studies1 completed in 2004 that investigated the social shaping of the new third generation mobile phone technology. Theoretical aspects are addressed by exploring some of the ways in which others have examined the sentient aspects of our lives to reveal the complex mesh of elements that affect everyday life. It continues by highlighting analogies between these writings and the social practices of mobile phone users identified in the research