How Mobile Phones Are Changing Our Social Habits

from the making-us-ruder-and-later dept

New research on how mobile phones are changing our social habits has suggested the obvious: we're ruder, we're later, and we're slaves to our phones. However, there certainly are some benefits as well. We're more likely to stay in touch with friends and family who have moved far away. We're more spontaneous and less rigid about how we run our lives. The study also found that, for the younger generation that has grown up with mobile phones, communicating by phone is the equivalent of face-to-face meeting. They also discovered (no surprise here, either) that it's the kids who end up teaching their parents how to use mobile phones. However, there were some interesting differences, depending on culture. In the US, where punctuality is usually seen as important, mobile phones make us later. We're more likely to schedule things spontaneously, and then reschedule at the last minute via mobile phone. However, in South America, where punctuality, traditionally, has been less important, people using mobile phones tend to see the reverse. They're on time more often, and are increasingly upset with those who are late. There was one universal aspect of mobile phones, though, that everyone felt, no matter what their age or background: having loud private conversations in public places was bad. In general, they discovered that it was people who were new to the mobile phone world who did so - but they learn fairly quickly. Maybe this means that in the future, once everyone is used to having mobile phones, this won't happen so frequently.
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 15 May 2003 @ 10:05am

    Hmm... interesting

    What's interesting is that the long techdirt editorial about the article bascially rehashed every salient point in the article -- I didn't even have to click in order to get the important info!

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    JIm Tsoj, 15 May 2003 @ 10:59am

    No Subject Given

    I never do

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 16 May 2003 @ 9:50am

    No Subject Given

    must obey the phone.....

    link to this | view in chronology ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.