Mobile media and social space : how anytime, anyplace connectivity structures everyday life

Using Giddens’ (1984) structuration theory we examine how social structures in mobile communication technologies shape the everyday life of individuals, thereby re-shaping power dynamics that underlie the social organization of society. We argue that the anytime, anyplace connectivity afforded by mo...

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Main Authors: Abeele, Mariek Vanden, De Wolf, Ralf, Ling, Richard
Other Authors: Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: 2018
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Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10356/89301
http://hdl.handle.net/10220/44900
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Institution: Nanyang Technological University
Language: English
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spelling sg-ntu-dr.10356-893012020-03-07T12:15:50Z Mobile media and social space : how anytime, anyplace connectivity structures everyday life Abeele, Mariek Vanden De Wolf, Ralf Ling, Richard Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information Giddens Logics Using Giddens’ (1984) structuration theory we examine how social structures in mobile communication technologies shape the everyday life of individuals, thereby re-shaping power dynamics that underlie the social organization of society. We argue that the anytime, anyplace connectivity afforded by mobile communication technologies structures society by imposing a network, social and personal logic. We discuss how each logic both reproduces and challenges traditional power structures, at the micro- as well as macro-level. At the micro-level, the network logic refers to mobile communication technologies’ capacity to organize activities in a networked fashion, granting people greater autonomy from time and place. The social logic refers to mobile communication technologies’ capacity for perpetual contact, fostering social connectedness with social relationships. The personal logic refers to mobile communication technologies’ capacity to serve as extensions of the Self, with which people can personalize contents, services, place and time. The flipside of these logics is that, at the micro-level, the responsibility to operate autonomously, to maintain personal social networks, and to manage and act based on personal information shifts to the individual. We also notice shifts in power structures at the macro-level. For instance, to reap the benefits of mobile communication technology individuals engage in free ‘digital labor’ and tolerate new forms of surveillance and control. Published version 2018-05-28T07:54:25Z 2019-12-06T17:22:22Z 2018-05-28T07:54:25Z 2019-12-06T17:22:22Z 2018 Journal Article Abeele, M. V., De Wolf, R., & Ling, R. (2018). Mobile media and social space : how anytime, anyplace connectivity structures everyday life. Media and Communication, 6(2), 5-14. 2183-2439 https://hdl.handle.net/10356/89301 http://hdl.handle.net/10220/44900 10.17645/mac.v6i2.1399 en Media and Communication © 2018 by the authors; licensee Cogitatio (Lisbon, Portugal). This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY). 10 p. application/pdf
institution Nanyang Technological University
building NTU Library
country Singapore
collection DR-NTU
language English
topic Giddens
Logics
spellingShingle Giddens
Logics
Abeele, Mariek Vanden
De Wolf, Ralf
Ling, Richard
Mobile media and social space : how anytime, anyplace connectivity structures everyday life
description Using Giddens’ (1984) structuration theory we examine how social structures in mobile communication technologies shape the everyday life of individuals, thereby re-shaping power dynamics that underlie the social organization of society. We argue that the anytime, anyplace connectivity afforded by mobile communication technologies structures society by imposing a network, social and personal logic. We discuss how each logic both reproduces and challenges traditional power structures, at the micro- as well as macro-level. At the micro-level, the network logic refers to mobile communication technologies’ capacity to organize activities in a networked fashion, granting people greater autonomy from time and place. The social logic refers to mobile communication technologies’ capacity for perpetual contact, fostering social connectedness with social relationships. The personal logic refers to mobile communication technologies’ capacity to serve as extensions of the Self, with which people can personalize contents, services, place and time. The flipside of these logics is that, at the micro-level, the responsibility to operate autonomously, to maintain personal social networks, and to manage and act based on personal information shifts to the individual. We also notice shifts in power structures at the macro-level. For instance, to reap the benefits of mobile communication technology individuals engage in free ‘digital labor’ and tolerate new forms of surveillance and control.
author2 Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information
author_facet Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information
Abeele, Mariek Vanden
De Wolf, Ralf
Ling, Richard
format Article
author Abeele, Mariek Vanden
De Wolf, Ralf
Ling, Richard
author_sort Abeele, Mariek Vanden
title Mobile media and social space : how anytime, anyplace connectivity structures everyday life
title_short Mobile media and social space : how anytime, anyplace connectivity structures everyday life
title_full Mobile media and social space : how anytime, anyplace connectivity structures everyday life
title_fullStr Mobile media and social space : how anytime, anyplace connectivity structures everyday life
title_full_unstemmed Mobile media and social space : how anytime, anyplace connectivity structures everyday life
title_sort mobile media and social space : how anytime, anyplace connectivity structures everyday life
publishDate 2018
url https://hdl.handle.net/10356/89301
http://hdl.handle.net/10220/44900
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