Using Mobile Phones in Pub Talk

Abstract

We present the findings from a study of how people interleave mobile phone use with conversation in pubs. Our findings, informed by ethnomethodology and conversation analysis, unpack the interactional methods through which groups of people in pubs occasioned, sustained, and disengaged from mobile device use during conversation with friends. Fundamentally, the work that is done consists of various methods of accounting for mobile device use, and displaying involvement in social interaction while the device is used. We highlight multiple examples of the nuanced ways in which interleaving is problematic in interaction, and relate our findings to the CSCW and HCI literature on collocated interaction. We conclude by considering avenues for future research, and discuss how we may support or disrupt interleaving practices through design to overcome the highlighted interactional troubles.

Mobile collocated interactions with wearables: past, present, and future

“…Various physical and social contexts of use were investigated including teamwork at the office [2], sharing media content at home [3] and outdoors [1], public expression in a theme park [5] and in a pub [3,6], location-based mobile disaster response games [7], and sharing educational stories in rural, developing-world contexts [8].…”

“…After individual presentations and group discussions, relevant topics were identified for a 'hands on' session where we [34] was introduced to explore ideas in small groups around embodied interactions using different materials, conductive fabrics, and strappings 5 to provoke thought. In a fourth workshop on "Proxemic Mobile Collocated Interactions" [35] at CHI 2016, 6 the ideas of proxemics were adopted for mobile collocated interactions, leading to in-depth discussion in two large groups on proxemics from an evaluation and technological standpoint. These workshops indicated the field was mature enough to warrant a Special Issue.…”

Collocated Interaction: New Challenges in 'Same Time, Same Place' Research

“…However, rather than sweeping generalisations and finger- pointing, our empirical research has the ability to paint a perhaps complicated, yet valid picture of how technology-enhanced social encounters really play out, in a multitude of settings including at work, home, play, and travel. For example, in-depth ethnographic research has revealed the subtle and skilled ways in which we embed phone use in conversations in pubs ( Figure 4) [19], living rooms ( Figure 5) [20], and collaborative photo-taking ( Figure 6) [6]. As Rooksby et al point out, "technology does not feature in the living room as something that brings or breaks intimacy, but rather mobile devices are things that enter an intimate environment and are used with respect to intimacy" [20:257].…”

“…For example, researchers have turned their attention from workplace settings to the home [20] and public spaces [19], and developed communities within specialised conferences. Recent workshops are testament of a diverse and active community, including at CSCW [22], ITS [1], MobileHCI [15], MAB [18], CHI [14], NordiCHI [12], and ECSCW [3,5].…”

“…Furthermore, a range of naturalistic studies with ubiquitous technologies such as public displays [18], tabletops ( Figure 3) [21], and mobile phones [19] have been conducted with a goal to understand how they impact face-to-face interactions. This work often pays particular attention to the interactional resources people employ in face-to-face interaction, such as gaze, gestures, and bodily co-orientation, and its 'implications for design', such as how mutual observability of action may be a key resource for tabletop collaboration [10], how collocated groups manage notifications by drawing on embodied resources [6], how people couple such devices [23], or how people coordinate and engage around public displays in social interactions [18].…”