Mobile Identity

Gitte Stald (2008) from the University of Copenhagen writes about the role of the mobile phone in the lives of adolescents.  She writes that the mobile phone is, like so many pieces of technology, far more than a device.  Teens in her study describe their mobile phones as vital to how they conduct their lives.  The phone provides them with connectivity, identity construction, space for private and intimate interaction, a social lubricant or "bodyguard" (p.156) and a portable record of their lives. 
The equation of constant availability with being a true friend was interesting.  I remember this feeling from my own adolescence, though as a rural kid with no land-line in my room, let alone a mobile, my ability to respond instantly to friend in need was limited.  Adolescent identity is so peer focused that reliability as a friend is powerful social capital. 
It was also interesting that Stald found that many of her informants didn’t use the more complicated features of their phones very often and I would be interested to see if that has changed with the advent of the i-phone and the like.
None of the roles that mobile phones play in adolescent life were particularly surprising to me, but what did strike me about the piece was the level of sophistication with which her informants describe their relationships with their mobile phones. From the 16 year old girl who drew the distinction between the "communicative function and the social meaning" (p.143) to the 16 year old boy who wondered if mobiles have "deprived us of the possibility of being offline" (p.146), these young people are not unaware of the contradictions and pitfalls of a connected, mobile life and identity.  Very often, young people are posited as being swept along by social trends and changing technology and being incapable or unwilling to engage in self-reflection.  More than anything, what Stald’s (2008) piece said to me was that while they may not have the academic language to express it, the teens in her study were certainly concerned with the larger meaning of mobile phones in their own lives.  
The first link below is to a Pew Research Center Power Point Presentation about teens usage of mobile phones and the internet.  It addresses some common assumptions about teens and their phone and internet use.

Pew Slideshow

Reference

Stald, G. (2008). Mobile identity: Youth, identity and mobile communication media. In D. Buckingham (Ed.), Youth identity and digital media (pp. 119-142). Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.