Societal Impacts of Cell Phones - A Project in collaboration with NTT DoCoMo, Inc. , Japan
Professor Elizabeth Keating (Director of the STS program, and Professor in the Department of Anthropology), graduate research assistant Emi Nagai, and 15 UT graduate students presented their research results on Friday, the 3rd of February 2006, to two representatives from NTT DoCoMo, Inc.- the largest mobile telecommunications company in Japan. Mr. Masahiro Matsushita, Assistant Manager of DoCoMo’s Mobile Society Research Center and Mr. Ryuta Horikawa, a researcher at DoCoMo’s Mobile Society Research Center in Tokyo flew to Austin for two days to discuss the results of the research conducted by the UT team.
Professor Keating and the UT students researched problems and regulations currently emerging as a response to cell phone technology in 15 areas around the world including Australia, Brazil, China, Taiwan, Egypt, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Korea, Lebanon, Norway, Russia, and the United States. The specific research topics included issues of public and private space, impacts on communication practices and protocols, new visual communicative capabilities and associated problems, as well as public discussions of individual vs. societal responsibilities and relationships. The research showed many differences related to local cultural norms and expectations, as well as some important similarities.
One commonly reported problem was a lack of rules of etiquette such as when to answer ringing phones, when to turn phones off, and how to conduct a private conversation in public without offending bystanders.
“The emergence of new rules of conduct is an important aspect of new communication technologies and is of great interest to anthropologists as well as the general public,” Keating said.
Complaints about new expectations of constant availability arising from cell phone use were common among many of the cultures studied. In some societies, for example Italy, consumers regularly purchase more than one cell phone in order to manage their relationships, such as work and family, and to restrict their availability.
Most cultural groups expressed concern about the increased vulnerability of children and people of all ages to harassment and unwanted contact with strangers and marketers, while at the same time acknowledging that cell phones also provide parents with increased contact with their children.
In every culture studied, young people are the highest percentage of cell phone users. They find innovative ways of use such as creating new language forms and types of relationships, as well as in some cases establishing individual and group identities through brand affiliation or elaborate decoration of phones.
“People reported experiencing a new kind of dependence on their cell phones, particularly valuing the ability to have brief, but frequent exchanges throughout the day with a select group of friends and family.” Keating said. “In spite of the negative societal impacts of cell phones, they are viewed positively for their power to enhance communication.”
NTT DoCoMo is Japan’s largest mobile phone company with more than 50 million customers. The company provides a wide variety of leading-edge mobile multimedia services. This is the first time they have funded research by a U.S. professor.
The UT Austin graduate student researchers included: Jin-Hee Kim, Shawn Chang, Judith Hammer, Amund Tallaksen, Emi Nagai, Zeina Halabi, Rory Markham, Serena Ferrando, Elodie Chazalon, Maria Rubinstein, Mayank Malik, Luciana De Castro, Dwi Wulandari, Shao-hua Guo, Tessa Farmer.
