The Meaning of the Mobile

In his article, “Mobile Identity:  Youth, Identity, and Mobile Communication Media,” Gitte Stald examines three themes—youth, identity, and learning.  Stald purposefully chooses “Mobile Identity” as a double meaning phrase.  First, of course, is the influence of the mobile media on the identity of young people.  Second, however, is the idea that adolescent identity is mobile, “changing and developing moment by moment over time, very sensitive to changes in the relations between friends and families, and to the emotional and intellectual changes experienced and mediated through the use of the mobile phone (among other factors)” (Stald, 2008, p. 143).  Within the concept of mobile identity, Stald addresses the broad themes of availability, presence, personal log, and learning social norms.  The impact of mobile phones on young people in Denmark are described in conjunction with each theme.

It is easy to read this chapter and see that the cell phone is a global “need” for young people.  The theme of presence has probably exploded to a greater extent since this chapter was published because of the iphone.  Also, it appears that the youngest person cited by Stald was fifteen years old.  It would be interesting to also consider the youngest age of cell phone users and how this may have changed between 2008 and today.

I have a unique perspective having two sons that are twelve years apart.  Our oldest son, who just turned 20, was in middle school and high school when the cell phone and the social networking sites (for him it was all about MySpace) were gaining great acceptance and use.  It was strange to watch the cell phone and MySpace become such a factor in his identity and therefore such a necessary connection to friends and “the world.”  In fact, when he was sixteen we saw the need to punish him for low grades in school.  Thinking that a sixteen year old boy could not live without a car we first restricted him from driving.  When his grades did not improve as expected, we decided to cut-off his cell phone.  Based on his reaction, we might as well have removed a vital organ from his body.  The cell phone was much more important than his car.  After all, he could text his friends and someone would come and pick him up.  We also learned a lesson when he received a cell phone five years ago.  “Unlimited text” was a foreign concept and seemed like such a waste of money at the time.  In our naïve parental brains we thought, “Clearly, no one could ever or would ever exceed the text limit per month that we purchased.”  We were proven quite wrong in just 30 days with our first cell phone bill.  Requesting and receiving a log of the times of each of the text messages and also requesting the number of one word text messages that were sent was shocking.  Seeing "K" over, over was mind boggling.  Were teenagers too lazy or cool to not even put the O on "OK" now?  George Orwell was right!

It is somewhat funny now to think about how we as parents were negotiating the learning curve of how important the cell phone was to our teenage son.  Now we would chalk those experiences up to “rookie mistakes” considering the common knowledge that most parents seem to have now about how many text messages teenagers send or will send which causes nearly everyone (I would think) to choose the unlimited text plan if a teenager is going to be on your cell phone plan.  As parents we would also not be so naïve now to think that a car is more important than a cell phone.  A car used to be the connection to “freedom” and “the outside world” for a teenager.  Now it is a cell phone with unlimited texting, and a monthly data plan for going online to check certain websites or to communicate through Facebook.  We don’t yet know what technology implications we will face with our youngest son who is eight.  However, one change is clear in relation to the cell phones.  The cell phone “battles” that parents were having with their ninth and tenth grade children just five or six years ago are now occurring between parents and their fifth and sixth grade children.  I'm not sure what this says about the changing dynamics of parenting and other societal issues but I'm sure it says a great deal about the clear connection between mobile technology and youth.

For a better understanding of the key role that cell phones play in the lives of teenagers note the PEW Research from April 2010 at http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1572/teens-cell-phones-text-messages

Stald, G. (2008).  Mobile identity:  Youth, identity, and mobile communication media.  In D. Buckingham (Ed.), Youth, identity, and digital media.  The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Series:  Digital media and learning (pp.143-164).  doi: 10.1162/dmal.9780262524834.143

The Generational Divide

In the1980’s a common question for teenagers who weren’t able to drive was, “can you take me to the mall?”  When teenagers could drive and had to answer the question about where they were going, the answer was usually, “I’m going to the mall to hang out with my friends.”  Once at the mall, meeting current friends and meeting new friends was driven by important teenage factors such as who knew who and whether a new teenager was introduced through a connection to the group.  If a friend in the group “signed off” that someone was cool, they were at least given a chance to be a friend.  Unfortunately, appearance was usually a major component of a group’s willingness to accept a new teenager.  There were two factors that expedited the level of openness the group might have.  First, if the person was considered attractive.  Second, was the cool factor which often came down to how the other teenager dressed and what kind of music they liked.  To have a rare t-shirt of a band that the group liked could score major points in terms of how open the group might be to acceptance.  In current times, there is no longer a need for a teenager to ask for a ride to the mall or to drive there themselves because their friends are usually online and they are there even after the mall closes.

It is interesting to know that MySpace grew as a social network site (SNS) because of the desire of “music junkies” to connect with bands, download music and try to acquire VIP passes or other unique items from a particular band.  (boyd, 2007, p. 4).  Music has always been an important aspect in the life of teenagers striving to know themselves and find their place in society. 

Part of the importance of music is expressing angst and highlighting the generational divide.  Even before Fresh Prince and DJ Jazzy Jeff declared “Parents Just Don’t Understand” (1988) in their light-hearted rap song, music has been a primary tool for youth to attempt to describe the generational differences.

In her chapter, “Why Youth (Heart) Social Network Sites:  The Role of Networked Publics in Teenage Social Life” (2007), danah boyd helps us explore key questions about teenagers and their affinity for using social networking sites.  boyd offers great perspective and reasonable answers to these questions by drawing upon ethnographic data collected during her two-year study of MySpace. 

Most specifically, boyd (2007) argues that social network sites “are a type of networked public with four properties that are not typically present in face-to-face public life:  persistence, searchability, exact copyability, and invisible audiences” (boyd, 2007, p. 2).  These four factors have altered the mall scenario that many of us in our late thirties and forties may have experienced.  Although boyd (2007) makes it clear that currently teenagers are typically connecting online with friends that they already have in face-to-face relationships.  Regardless, these four properties of a networked public up the ante in teenage social development because of the potential for communication to be saved for long amounts of time (if not forever), be copied from place to place so that the original intentions of expression are potentially misinterpreted, and the near impossibility of knowing all those who may run across some communication at some point in the future with detrimental effects.  The searchability factor of an SNS might help develop a relationship in a less superficial process than the mall scenario because a teenager can join groups based on similar interests and ideas.  Undoubtedly the impacts of these four networked aspects of an SNS on society are major and many of the effects have yet to be realized and studied. 

Considering SNS through the lens of education is still a very new concept as well.  A source of information that I recommend at this point is “Navigating Social Networks as Learning Tools” by Will Richardson.  As Richardson states, “This new networked space where we all can connect, create, and collaborate is one that is filled with amazing potentials for learning, many that promise to reshape the way we go about our lives both in and outside of school” (Richardson, 2010, p. 302).

Boyd, D.  (2007).  Why youth (heart) social network sites:  The role of networked publics in teenage social life.  In Buckingham, D. (Ed.), MacArthur Foundation series on digital learning--youth, identity, and digital media volume (pp.1-26).  Cambridge:  MIT Press.

Richardson, W. (2010).  Navigating social networks as learning tools.  In Belanca, J. and Brandt, R. (Eds.), 21^st century skills:  Rethinking how students learn (pp. 285-303).  Bloomington:  Solution Tree Press.