COMM 102 Lecture Notes - Lecture 27: Sexting
12 Jun 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Mobile Communication
Outline
● What is mobile? How is it distinct from other comm?
● Research on social capital and effects
○ Social capital
○ Effects on social relationships
○ Public Space/Private Space
○ Health repercussions
○ Youth Culture and Sexting Solitude
What is mobile communication?
● Possibility of mediated social interaction, media consumption, and information exchange while
the user is in physical motion
● May take place through voice, text, picture, video, or otherwise
● Devices not necessarily used while on the go, but rather that they afford - i.e. make possible -
mobility during mediated social connectivity
Why mobile matters (How it is distinctive)
● Unprecedented adoption rates
● Implications for how users relate to space
● Size matters
● Cost matters
● Distinctions between mobile, portable, and fixed
1. Mobile - Can be used while on the go
2. Portable - Such as laptops, carried place to place and then used
3. Fixed - Tethered to a location
Mobile Communication and Social Capital
● Social capital - Constructive resources developed through mutual involvement with others
● In addition to bridging, bonding, and maintained, other aspects of social capital include:
○ Civic Engagement
○ Political Involvement
○ Trust in Others
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
○ Life Satisfaction
● Internet research as a backdrop for research on mobile communication and social capital
○ Internet paradox - isolation, alienation, depression
● Revisiting early findings for Internet:
○ Social recreation negatively linked to civic engagement, trust in others, and life
satisfaction
○ Information exchange positively linked to all three
Effects on Social Coordination - micro-coordination
● TIME & SPACE no longer rule planning and logistics
○ Softening of the schedule
○ Ongoing refinement – change plans or make them up on the fly (directly, while moving
about)
○ Mobile communications allow more planning for spontaneous face-to-face encounters
○ Mobile workers – lower boundaries between work and home may cause stress
● Pre-smartphone era (still mobile)
○ Individual addressability through texting & calling tightens flows of core network
interaction
○ New rhythms and rituals
○ Heightened expectations for accessibility (among core ties)
○ Concerns about social insularity – overl onneted in ooons and monadi lusters
● Smartphone era
○ Perpetual contact – heightened sense of connection strengthens social bonds
○ Text messages symbolic of friendship/intimacy
○ Diversified channels (apps & social media) = more diversified connections fostered
through mobile communication (opposite of cocooning)
Private Use in Public Space
● Fored eaesdroppin: Most people do not like hain to hear a person’s phone ono
● Listenin to halaloue - more distracting that hearing both sides of conversation
● Absent presence - cell phone users physically present, but minds are engaged elsewhere
● Users of mobile technology for information more likely to engage in conversation with strangers
● Users of mobile technology for relational purposes less likely to talk to strangers
● Social media and location-based services – new narratives about connecting with places and
people in public
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Possibility of mediated social interaction, media consumption, and information exchange while the user is in physical motion. May take place through voice, text, picture, video, or otherwise. Devices not necessarily used while on the go, but rather that they afford - i. e. make possible - mobility during mediated social connectivity. Distinctions between mobile, portable, and fixed: mobile - can be used while on the go, portable - such as laptops, carried place to place and then used, fixed - tethered to a location. Social capital - constructive resources developed through mutual involvement with others. In addition to bridging, bonding, and maintained, other aspects of social capital include: Internet research as a backdrop for research on mobile communication and social capital. Social recreation negatively linked to civic engagement, trust in others, and life satisfaction. Time & space no longer rule planning and logistics. Ongoing refinement change plans or make them up on the fly (directly, while moving about)
