Mobile Communication: Bringing Us Together and Tearing Us Apart

Rich Ling · Scott W. Campbell

dic 2011 · Mobile Communication Series Libro 1 · Transaction Publishers

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Mobile Communication covers a wide range of topics. These include the replacement of co-present interaction with mediated contact and analysis of mobile-based cohesion and gender. The authors also explore the role of media choice and its effect on the quality as well as quantity of social cohesion. Other topics include mobile communication and communities of interest; and mobile communication, cohesion, and youth. This volume brings together scholars from around the world to consider how mobile communication both builds and destroys our sense of social cohesion. There is no question that uses of technology can lead to increased cohesion within personal communities. For example, this volume includes research on caravan couples in Australia, factory workers in China, young couples in Germany, citizens in Slovenia, and sports clubs in Ireland. It also includes research on drunken calls between university students in the US, calls of international students in Switzerland and communications between immigrant women in Melbourne, Australia. However, the contributors also argue that as social networks become inundated with mobile communication users, these users may become increasingly isolated and social division can ensue.

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Rich Ling is professor at the IT University of Copenhagen and is also a sociologist at Telenor’s research institute near Oslo, Norway. Previously, he was Pohs Visiting Professor of Communication at the University of Michigan. He is the author of New Tech, New Ties: How Mobile Communication is Reshaping Social Cohesion,and The Mobile Connection: The Cell Phone’s Impact on Society. Scott W. Campbell is associate professor of communication studies and Pohs Fellow of Telecommunications in the department of communication studies at the University of Michigan. His research has been published in the journals Communication Education, Communication Monographs, International Journal of Communication, Journal of Applied Communication Research, New Media & Society, and others.