The Material Youth Culture of Mobile Technology

Marcus Persson
Ericsson AB & Örebro University

Purpose of the project and any changes in purpose during the project period

Leading researchers within work life studies have for the last decade argued that adult work life is becoming more individualized and boundless with the support of information and communication technology (ICT) enabling greater mobility and flexibility. Researchers within school and education have pointed to similar trends. The aim of the project The Material Youth Culture of Mobile Technology has been to study young people's (13-18 year old) use of and relationship to ICT - especially computers, tablets and mobile phones - from a social psychological perspective. The use of ICT has in the project been studied in relation to school work and leisure activities in and outside school in order to better understand the synchronization processes between different domains when using ICT. Relation to ICT has been studied in relation to identity and social norms in order to better understand expectations of new technology in different contexts. The overall project purpose has not changed, however, it has evolved. Through the study of young people's use of ICT per physical context, new questions has aroused about young peoples' experiences of demarcations problems when using ICT for schoolwork and leisure activities. Today the aim includes both integrating and segmenting aspects of young people's use of ICT in and outside school. An additional aim has also been to study similarities and differences between girls' and boys' ICT usage.

The projects' three main results and a discussion of these

The project was conducted in four parts and is reported here based on the three main findings.

(1) Two sub-studies (which has in the company been called "Future School" and "The self in future school") has been conducted in connection to the main purpose and deals with students' use of ICT in and outside schools in Stockholm (Sweden), Chicago (USA), Singapore (China), and Tallinn (Estonia), particularly with the focus on students' experiences of boundary work and demarcation problems in relation to their use of ICT. Results demonstrate how students use ICT as a tool to integrate schoolwork with leisure activities regardless of physical context, indicating an increasingly situation-based and boundaryless practice of combining and separating schoolwork and leisure activities. The results also show the pervasiveness of students' segmentation strategies, i.e. individual techniques (mental and physical) to establish personal boundaries between school work and leisure. The project contributes with new knowledge to the international body of research about school and work life.

(2) In order to capture the social psychological dimensions of the relationship between individual and technological artifacts, one sub-study has focused on (post-)social relationships between individuals and mobile phones as a device which is increasingly integrated in individual life and identity. More specifically, the sub-study has investigated nickname practices of mobile phones as a form of material culture phenomenon. The findings have been presented at several seminars and conferences, and been submitted as an article to the journal Human IT entitled "Loli = I love it, I live with it. Nicknaming mobile phones in the age of individualism". Previous mobile phone research has shown how the mobile phone as artifact is often made personal (through background images, ring tunes, etc.), however, this study have contributed with new knowledge about how the mobile phone is used as "active relationship partner", not only in regard to self-presentation but also to self-cultivate desired personal qualities in relation to discursive demands of individuality and authenticity.

(3) A third important result is that the project shows how girls' and boys' use of ICT reflects gender structures and normative expectations correlates with gendered control and regulation from parents and teachers. Together with the company's mentor a book chapter entitled "The Story of the transparent girl: sociable and controllable", has been published in the international anthology Invisible Girl. Based on literature studies demonstrated herein the connection between structural socialization processes, gender, and ICT use and control / regulation. More precisely, this means that girls are encouraged more than boys to be communicative and cooperative in social life, however, when they use ICT in this normative way they also face the challenge of greater control and regulation by parents and teachers.

New research questions generated by the project

The project has generated two new research questions.

(1) Interviews with and observations of teachers and pupils within the project have revealed that social network sites such as Facebook is increasingly being used as tools for teachers to communicate with their pupils. In light of this knowledge, the project has generated a new research project on the ethical consequences of teachers' professional use of social networking sites. Together with a research team, at Uppsala and Örebro University, funding is presently sought for a three-year research project with the title: Teachers without borders: social networking sites as tools for teachers and new boundary work issues. The project aims to investigate how the renegotiations of previously established boundary arrangements between teachers and pupils applies to new virtual arenas of community, and also if the new arrangements are solutions to collective boundary crossing problems.

(2) The project has also generated a methodological research question. Through a temporary collaboration with the company's research department Ericsson Research, where analytical work was performed on empirical data collected by the department, several blog posts and a conference paper have been written about how qualitative research could benefit from studying individual's relation to material things. Entitled "Teddy Bear Says: Study hard, do not be lazy! Self-regulation and motivation in relation to domestic things "has a method article submitted to the journal Qualitative Sociology.

The project in international perspective

Empirical studies have been conducted in Sweden, the U.S., China and Estonia. The first three were included in the project's initial plan; in addition, Estonia has been included due to its unique profile, with an operational national e-education system. The selection of countries is due to their prominent position within ICT and education, but also because these countries are of particular interest in the current state of international research about ICT and school.

The projects' two main publications

(1) One of the projects' main publications are the article "'No, Facebook isn't distracting me, I can study at night.' ICT habits and boundary work Among Estonian secondary Pupils", which is to be submitted to the journal Studies of Transition States and Societies. In line with the projects' overall aim, the article deals with boundary problems in relation to ICT from the perspective of the new field of international research "boundary work" and "boundary theory", i.e. the practical and theoretical aspects of research about demarcation between work and leisure.

(2) A second important publication from the project is the article "The story of the transparent girl: sociable and controllable" published in the anthology Invisible Girl. Herein demonstrates the link between structural socialization processes, gender, and ICT use and adult control /regulation. As mentioned above, this means that girls are encouraged more than boys to be communicative and cooperative in social life, but when using technology in this gendered way, they became target of greater control and regulation by adults (parents and teachers).

The projects' publishing strategy

The projects' publishing strategy has been characterized by three keywords: internationality, openness and progression. Internationality means that the majority of the publication is written in English and that the results have been spread among and anchored in international scientific contexts through publications and conferences. Openness means that the project results will be published freely available to the public. Of lesser scientific value this means blog posts, popular science texts, and the company's external deliverables. For scientific articles, journals and anthologies that publish open access have been selected. Progression means that the project aimed to continuously publish preliminary results in order to enrich and gradually develop research results.

The cooperation between academia and the private sector

In accordance with the interactionistic theory that this project is based, the project has consciously sought cross-fertilize two cultures' ways of working and thinking through individual everyday practices. Like the world of education where knowledge sharing and individual development is performed through both formal and informal learning processes, the projects' collaboration strategy is characterized by formal and informal activities, inside and outside the company in boundary crossing purposes. Formal activities means co-productions in the form of project work, blogs, company specific deliverables, etc.. Informal activities relates to interpersonal meetings such as seminars and workshops where exchange of knowledge occurs. From scientific point of view, the project has sought to visualize scientific methods and theories, partly by inserting such in formal collaborative work, and partly by being involved in discussions within the company as well as to do business colleagues involved in informal academic collaborations and conversations outside of the private sector .

Publications

Vetenskapliga publikationer

Persson M (in prep., to be submitted to Studies of Transition States and Societies). “‘No, Facebook isn’t distracting me, I can study at night’. ICT habits and boundary work among Estonian secondary pupils Boundary”. 

Persson M (submitted to Human IT in December 2012) “Loli=I love it, I live with it: Nicknaming mobile phones in the age of individualism”.

Persson M (submitted to Qualitative Sociology in October 2012) "Teddy Bear Says: Study hard, don't be lazy! Using ‘talking’ things and visual data in qualitative research to explore human-object relationships".

Persson M & Eriksson Björling M (2012) “The story of the transparent girl”, Frånberg, Hällgren & Dunkels (eds.) Invisible Girl. Umeå: Umeå universitet.

Thunman E & Persson M (2012) ”I fotspåren”, En gestalt, många berättelser. En vänbok till Lars-Erik Berg. Jessica Mjöberg och Anette Lundin (red.). Skövde: Runit.

Persson M & Eriksson Björling M (2011) “Mobiltelefonen: förändrade vanor och ökande kostnader”, i Konsumtionsrapporten 2011, CFK/Handelshögskolan Göteborg. www.cfk.gu.se/

Persson M (2011) Book Review of Christena Nippert-Eng “Islands of Privacy”. Acta Sociologica nr 2, 2011.

Persson M & Thunman E (2011) “G H Mead och motståndets socialpsykologi”, i Stier och Lindblom (red.) Det socialpsykologiska perspektivet. Lund: Studentlitteratur

Populärvetenskapliga publikationer

Persson M (2013) Boundary Work. Exploring ICT habits in- and outside of school among Estonian pupils. Internal Ericsson Report.

Persson M (2012) ”Imaginative sociology and talking things”, Sociological Imagination [published may 31]

Persson M (2012) ”The tools of education – soon at a museum near you”, Ericsson Business Review. Field report from Future School project.

Persson (2012) Glimpses of the Future School. Living and learning in a new media ecology. Internal Ericsson Report.

Konferenspaper

Persson M (2012) "Teddy Bear Says: Study hard, don't be lazy! Using ‘talking’ things and visual data in qualitative research to explore human-object relationships", paper presented at ESA RN20 Qualitative method midterm conference – Curiosity and Serendipity. Lund University.

Persson M (2011) “Loli=I love it, I live with it: Nicknaming mobile phones in the age of individualism”, paper presented at NordMedia 2011, at Akureyri university, Iceland. 11-13 August.

Bloggar

Gästbloggare på riksbankens jubileumsfonds websida, år 2010.

Gästbloggare på User-Experience Lab (Ericsson) blog, år 2012.