Cellphones in public: social interactions in a wireless era

Abstract

Cellphones provide a unique opportunity to examine how new media both reflect and affect the social world. This study suggests that people map their understanding of common social rules and dilemmas onto new technologies. Over time, these interactions create and reflect a new social landscape. Based upon a year-long observational field study and in-depth interviews, this article examines cellphone usage from two main perspectives: how social norms of interaction in public spaces change and remain the same; and how cellphones become markers for social relations and reflect tacit pre-existing power relations. Informed by Goffman's concept of cross talk and Hopper's caller hegemony, the article analyzes the modifications, innovations and violations of cellphone usage on tacit codes of social interactions.

Illusions of Balance and Control in an Always-on Environment: a Case Study of BlackBerry Users

“…There is an extensive body of work discussing consumer usage of mobile technologies, with a particular focus on mobile telephony (see for example Brown, Green & Harper, 2002;Fortunati, 2002;Gordon, 2002;Haddon, 1997;Humphreys, 2005;Katz, 2003;Katz & Aakhus, 2002;Ling, 2004;Nyíri, 2003;Oksman & Turtiainen, 2004;Peters & Allouch, 2005). In contrast, there is limited academic work on organisational usage of mobile email.…”

Sobre la necesidad de desconectar: algunos datos y propuestas

“…Una primera aportación es la de Humphreys (2005) que se pregunta por el rol del móvil en la normativa de las interacciones sociales. En su interesante investigación pone de manifiesto cómo el teléfono móvil reafirma la propuesta de Goffman (1963de Goffman ( , 1971) sobre la existencia de "singles" y "withs" en los espacios públicos, y se convierte en un elemento que protege al "single", más vulnerable en estos entornos, de posibles invasiones o le ayuda a justificarse.…”

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“…Para Goffman, existem dois tipos de indivíduos, os "sozinhos" e os "com", que significa pessoas sozinhas ou que estejam acompanhadas de outras pessoas. Os "sozinhos" estão muito mais vulneráveis ao contato de outras pessoas e podem ser julgados mais duramente que os "com" (Humphreys, 2005).…”