Mobility tightens the social sphere

Richard Ling is a sociologist and senior researcher at mobile operator Telenor's research and development division. His writing and research concentrates on how people use and relate to different aspects of mobile telephony. In his recently released book, The Mobile Connection: The Cell Phone's Impact on Society, he describes the major social changes resulting from mobile telephony use.

Friday, November 19, 2004

Mobile phones become a part of teenagers identity and a part of their emancipation from their parents, says Richard Ling.

Ling says it is difficult to pin down the meaning of culture and how different cultural backgrounds influence the way people use mobile phones.

"As a social scientist, I see a whole spectrum of things that result in differences in user behaviors or differences in patterns," Ling says. "There are a lot of issues that come in to play, such as regulatory issues, technical issues, economic issues and socio-demographic issues."

When it comes to regulatory issues, Ling mentions requirements for coverage and connection issues as important.

"For example, if there isn't any inter connection, that seems to kill SMS. That happened in Israel and in the US," he says.

Technical and economic aspects and whether or not there are a lot of communications alternatives also have a huge impact on how people approach mobile telephony. Ling mentions, for example, that instant messaging is perhaps more dominant then mobile phones among teenagers in the US, especially university students.

"This is mainly because many campuses offer free access to instant messaging and students use it instead of calling each other. Basically its free, everyone's got a PC and there is easy access at libraries and computer labs. It is not mobility but it fits this group's needs. Users build a social sphere around instant messaging that is similar to what we see with SMS in Europe."

Voice is dominating

Ling says voice continues to dominate SMS in the US, due to offers such as free voice traffic on weekends and evenings. This makes voice a cheaper option for many.

"You do not find that type of offering in Japan, Korea or in Europe, where operators always charge for voice," he says.

When it comes to social demographics, Ling says he actually sees more similarities than differences.

Ling says: "Teenagers in Scandinavia, Japan and the US in the process of moving away from home, and consequently reestablishing themselves, are working out identity issues. It is here that they incorporate the mobile phone." Mobile phones become a part of their identity and a part of their emancipation from their parents, he explains. It gives them a communications channel with their peers that does not have to go through their parents' communications system.

"The mobile phone helps them to move away from home and establish themselves in a social sphere. That's why we see this dramatic adoption among teens."

Tightens the social sphere

The mobile phone also lowers the threshold for interaction and tightens the social network. "My daughter knows before she leaves home what type of clothes her friends will be wearing, that another friend argued with her father and that a third friend isn't done with her math. It tightens that social sphere, but it could also mean that she misses information from other groups," Ling says.

Different groups form an attachment to different things and make them their own. In terms of aesthetics, Lings cites clear differences between Scandinavia, where consumers have candy-bar telephones, and Korea and Japan, where the small, flip-up phones looking like make-up kits are most common.

"What mobile phone you have also mirrors your personality and how you interact with others," Ling says. "Fashion also influences your personal identity as opposed to group identity; you want to have your own image but also show your membership of a group."

Another consideration is how far ahead of the curve a user is: if they are too far ahead they are thought of as avant garde, but if they fall too far behind they are seen as a bit boring; if a user adopts strange phones at the right time it can be "just right", but if they do so at the wrong time or inherit their father's old phone they could be called a geek.

"Looking ahead 10 years, I am convinced that voice and some form of text messages - not necessarily today's SMS - will be the dominant ways of telecom interaction," Ling says. "They fill the basic needs of most people and cultures - to interact and communicate. I think that the mobile phone will probably become the only communications device and include several more functions. We can see that happening already today."

Hendrik Bergstén