Archive for: Themes

This paper presents results of an empirical research analysing aspects of mobile phone use among young people and its impact on everyday social life, communication and social interaction. The mobile phone cannot be reduced to a mere material object, a functional and practical product of global society, but it also has an important social and cultural dimension and needs to be studied systematically. The main focus of our theoretical and research efforts is the sociological and cultural phenomenon of the mobile phone use among young people, and its impact on everyday social life, social relations, patterns of activity, communication and interaction, emphasizing the relationship between the individual and mobile telephony. This paper examines creation of a new culture of communication where the phenomen is explained by texting, creation of new linguistic forms, emphasizing redefinition of traditional notions of time and place, creation of new spaces such as conversational space. It also considered concepts of the private and the public, in relation to notions of the socially acceptable and the unacceptable. The study was carried out using a structured questionnaire on a sample of 302 respondents in the target area of Split and the surrounding places. The field phase of the research was conducted during May and June 2010. Young people were selected as the target research population because they are thought to be “pioneers” in the use of information and computer technologies. Information and communication technologies in general and mobile telephony in particular have become a youth technology. Young people are the largest group of consumers of mobile technology and are often considered to be pioneers in their adaption and evolution.