Discovery and Integration of Mobile Communications in Everyday Life

Abstract:

We report on the results of a study in which 19 new mobile telephone users were closely tracked for the first six weeks after service acquisition. Results show that novices tend to rapidly modify their perceptions of social appropriateness around mobile phone use, that actual nature of use frequently differs from initial predictions, and that comprehension of service-based technologies can be problematic. We also describe instances and features of mobile telephony practice. When in use, mobile phones occupy multiple social spaces simultaneously, spaces with norms that sometimes conflict: the physical space of the mobile phone user and the virtual space of the conversation.