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AbstractResearch on mobile technology adoption has focused predominantly on young adults, and little attention has been paid to older people. But with rapidly aging populations in most developed countries, and evidence from many studies that older adults are as capable of adopting and using mobile technology as everybody else, the academic, business and technology industry worlds are devoting more attention to this group. Research has already demonstrated that older people differ from young people in their perceptions, preferences and usage of mobile technology, but there are also differences within the older adults group regarding mobile technology adoption. Using data from a mobile phone survey, this study identifies segments of mobile phone users among older adults based on their attitudes towards mobile phones, and describes the underlying differences between these segments in terms of key values towards mobile phone communications, mobile phone use, and socio-demographics. The analysis led to the identification of three distinct segments, designated as "Apathetic", "Social and hedonic" and "Busy and active".

"This book provides the first comprehensive introduction to the newly-emerging science of mobile phone behavior. It presents the unexpected complexity of human mobile phone behavior through four basic aspects of mobile phone usage (users, technologies, activities, and effects), and then explores four major domains of such behavior (medicine, business, education, and everyday life). Chapters open with thoughts on mobile phone usage and behavior from interviews with cell phone users, then present a series of scientific studies, synthesized knowledge, and real-life cases, concluding with complex but highly readable analyses of each aspect of mobile phone behavior. Readers should achieve two intellectual goals: gaining a usable knowledge of the complexity of mobile phone behaviour, and developing the skills to analyze the complexity of mobile phone usage - and further technological behaviors"--

This article explores children's use of mobile phones in relation to their intimate, sexual relationships and in their development of gendered sexual identities in their everyday lives. Implications of risk and mobile phones are reflected in current media discourse and contemporary public discussions. While the concept of risk remains at the centre of current sociological debate, children have only recently been seen as active social actors within social science. Based on the accounts of 30 young people aged between 11 and 17, the article adopts a social constructivist perspective to explore the relationship between young people's talk of sexuality and sexual acts in their discussions of mobile phone use, within the wider theoretical debates about risk and self-identity.

In this introduction, we argue for an expanded focus in mobile media and communication studies (MMCS) that accounts for the many types of mobile media that affect our lives. We begin by pointing out that mobile phone/smartphone research has dominated MMCS as a field. That focus makes sense, but it runs the risk of MMCS essentially turning into "smartphone studies," which we argue would limit our impact. To make that case, we identify a few examples of the types of oft-ignored technologies that could add to the depth and breadth of MMCS research (e.g., RFID [radio frequency identification] tags, the Walkman, barcodes). We then summarize the articles in this special issue to categorize the breadth of this research, which ranges from analyses of mobile fans to autonomous cars to mobile infrastructure.

This article explores how mobile phones function as an affective technology for young adults, by adapting the self-expansion model to understand attachment to mobile phones. In an online survey, 272 smart phone users reported on their recalled responses to loss/separation from their mobile phone (not by choice), as well as their use of the mobile phone for self-expansion. Results show that self-expansion via mobile phone was associated with greater inclusion of the mobile phone in the self-concept and greater subjective well-being. Most respondents reported negative feelings, such as loneliness/disconnection, anxiety, and boredom, when without their mobile phone, but others felt relieved to be out of touch with others. The use of the mobile phone for self-expansion was associated with more negative emotion and less positive emotion (relief) in response to loss/separation from the phone. Interpretations of the findings are discussed.

The growing influence of new information and communication technologies (ICTs), in particular mobile phone technology, on many aspects of life has been noted, but detailed analysis of possible effects on politics has begun only recently. While the possibilities of e-voting are still being explored, the political influence of mobile phones can be noticed in the wider context of democracy, namely the building of networks, the provision of information and the mobilisation of activists. This article explores the evidence of mobile phone technology's effects on democracy and argues for its incorporation in future analyses of new ICTs and democracy and political participation.

The growing influence of new information and communication technologies (ICTs), in particular mobile phone technology, on many aspects of life has been noted, but detailed analysis of possible effects on politics has begun only recently. While the possibilities of e-voting are still being explored, the political influence of mobile phones can be noticed in the wider context of democracy, namely the building of networks, the provision of information and the mobilisation of activists. This article explores the evidence of mobile phone technology's effects on democracy and argues for its incorporation in future analyses of new ICTs and democracy and political participation.