Mobile communication in the life of Finnish teenagers

New communication technologies (mobile phones, the internet, third generation applications) are re-defining the way social interaction takes place among the young people. In this post, I review the study published by Virpi Oksman & Jussi Turtiainen from the University of Tampere in Finland.

In this study “Mobile communication as a social stage”, Oksman & Turtiainen (2004) look at the significance of mobile communication in the life of Finnish teenagers from the theoretical standpoint of “symbolic interactionism.”

The ”symbolic interactionism” framework states that, “interactions are symbolic and based on signs and meanings, and social interactions produce shared meanings.” It also presumes that face – to – face interaction is the most fundamental form of social interaction. They write that, according to Goffman’s social stage theory, presentation of self  (an acceptable persone) and a “frame” that defines the signs and forms of interaction are an important aspects of social interaction. Goffman differentiates between “embodied” (when the body is present) and “disembodied” (when the body is distant) information. In the much of the mobile communication, social interaction takes place through disembodied participants. Hence, it can be assumed that mobile communication are re-defining social interaction. Therefore, the main research questions guiding this study is “whether new media technologies (mobile communications) generate new forms of social interaction?”

The data for this study was collected through an ongoing research project at University of Tampere, that focused on communication culture of under-18s in Finland. There were 168 inidividual and group thematic interviews of teenagers conducted between spring 2000 and winter 2002. The duration of the interviews varied from one to three hours. 99 percent of the participants owned a mobile phone and belonged to socioeconomically heterogeneous background. The thematic interviews were conducted in places where young people normally hang out such as cafes and fast food restaurants.

They use the “media ethnographic” approach to understand the mobile communication of young people. According to them, young people’s mobile communication and cultural practices should be understood as connected with their every day life, sociocultural environment and other media use.

In their study, they found that:

1. Mobile phone is an important part of everyday life for Finnish teenagers, used to maintain social networks and form new relationships. It is also used to define their personal space, that is, it enables private communication outside of parental supervision.

2. Mobile communication has changed the relationship between teens and their parents. In general, teens have more freedom to conduct their own affairs.

3. Mobile communication allows teens to maintain their evolving social networks and forge new friendships. It particularly enables romantic relationships through text messaging.

4. Mobile communication has also led to new forms of mediated communication practices such as text messaging, bomb calls.

5. Mobiles are also used by teenagers to pass time by sending text messages and playing games.

6. When compared with other new forms of communication technologies and applications, mobile phones were considered as more necessary aspect of their everyday life and communication.

7. Although there were no differences in the ownership of mobile phones between girls and boys they detected gender differences in their use of  and attitudes towards technology. For example, girls sent longer messages and were more interested in the interactive and aesthetic aspects of technology. Whereas boys sent shorter messages, and were more interested in the developments in new technologies.