Title: Mobile Communication, the Internet and the Net of Social Relations
1Mobile Communication, the Internet and the Net of
Social Relations
- Friedrich Krotz
- University of Erfurt, Germany
2Changing the Perspective Analyzing the Mobile
Phone vs. Analyzing the Everyday life of the
people
3Overview
- Mediatization becoming mediated by media
- Changing Social Relations by Mobile Phone and the
Internet - But different changes by Mobile Phone and the
Internet, refering to relations - Conclusions Mediatization
41 Mediatization becoming mediated by the media
Changing communication in society, culture and by
individuals
5Mediatization
- Means a long term process of changing conditions
of communication - as new media come up and old media are used in
new ways and so the media environments of the
people are changing - new forms of communication today (mainly Mobile
Net, Internet, Interactive Communication and the
Mix of all)
6Mediatization
- As a construct (like Globalization and
Individualization) to describe the development of
the digital media becoming a part of culture and
society - As a micro concept to describe the changing
everyday life of men and women by more and more
using digital media - As a macro concept to describe the changing of
economy, culture, society
7Everyday Life in the industrial society
8Everyday life in the media society
The Media
9Consequences
- All areas of life are concerned leisure and
work, - new realities and situations came up
- new orientations by reference and membership
groups - new experiences, roles, social relations
- New forms of identity and of forms of living
together
102 Changing social relations by Mobile Phone and
Internet
11In the industrial Society
- Most people mainly lived in an net of personal,
social and parasocial relations - Personal Relations maintained by
Face-to-face-communication, - With media of interpersonal communication being
helpful from time to time - Maintained by mass media (parasocial relations)
- (all media help to maintain social relations
between social groups)
12The Net of (para-)social/personal Relations
Ally McBeal
Aunt
Working Colleague
Person
Mother
Aquaintance
Partner
Neighbour
Friend
13Social Net by Membership- and Reference Groups
Social groups/classes
Hobbygroup
Fans of the same Soccer club
Team at the job /Peergroup
Person
Family
Fans liking the same Music style, soap ...
Religion
14The digitally mediated everyday life
Hobbygroup
Fans of the same Soccer club
Ally McBeal
Aunt
Team at the job /Peergroup
Working Colleague
Person
Mother
Person
Aquaintance
Partner
Neighbour
Family
Friend
Fans liking the Same Music style
Religion
15In the upcoming Media Society
- The net of everyday life interaction and
communication - is intertwined and intermingled by a net of
digitally mediated forms of communication - especially by mobile phone and Internetrelated PC
(more and more refering to interactive
communication) - but how and with which effects?
16Thesis changing situations of Communication
- For both the Internet and the mobile phone
- The use changes the situation a person is in as
it separates from the present persons - The use in addition produces a simultaneous
second situation as it connects with another
person - Even the presence of a media influences the
situation It is a latent possibility. It serves
to present myself in a specific way and to manage
impression. It serves to control the situation.
17Mobile phone and a given prior situation
Common face-to-face-Situation
Person A
Person B
Person D
Person C
Adresses a specific person Control of situation
18Computer/Internet and a given prior situation
Home/Office
Enter an open virtual space
Person A
Household mebers or office colleagues
You must not adress a person, thus open for new
relations Politics of the family/the office
19Conclusion
- Mediatization We more and more are in such
simultaeous situations - Both media
- Separate from the actual situation - but what
type of situation? - Connects with other persons - but what type of
persons? - Helps to control the situation - but what type of
situation?
203 Differences between Internet/PC and Mobile
Phone refering to relations
- Thesis
- Mobile phone and Internet/PC affect situation in
a different way Each changes another type of
situations and each connect to another type of
additional situation
21Thus
- Each of them is important for different
situations - which it changes and
- which it creates
- by technical features
- by Culture
22The Internet
23Internet/PC
- Traditionally and by culture, the computer is
seen as a stand allone computer, which may have
a connection to the Internet, in addition
(Internet inside of PC) - Technically, Internet/PC is mostly used at home
or in office, as they are not so easy to
transport
24- Thus, Internet/PC
- Is important for the politics of the family and
organizes difference, e.g. between man and woman - separates from relations to colleagues, household
and family (specific place or room) - Using the internet is organized as entering a
virtual space, there you can maintain existing
relations, but you also can start new relations
25Mobile Phone
26The mobile phone
- Is culturally understood as a phone (although it
is a little computer). Therefor, it seen to be
used mainly to speak with a selected other person
(or send him or her a SMS), the adress of which
you know - Technically it may be used (nearly) everywhere,
as the connecting nets are everywhere and it is
easy to transport
27Thus, the mobile phone
- Mostly plays a role to control situations and
manage impressions outside of home - Mostly separates from unknown people in unknown
situations/does not disturb relations - Using the mobile phone means you must adress a
specific person with his/her phone number it
connects mainly with known persons - You can only maintain existing relations
28 Personal Relations byInternet/PC
Mobile phone
- Separates from relations to family/colleagues
- Is important for the politics of family
- Using the Internet is organized to enter a
specific virtual space - There one can maintain personal relations, but
you one can also start new relations
- Separates from often unknown persons/ no
relations - Helps to Controll the situation /manage
impressions - Signalizes a life style
- Connects with known persons an identifier of
which you must know - Helps to maintain relations in mobile times
294 Conclusions Mediatization
- Every individual lives in a space of possible
contacts - and in a net of personal, social and parasocial
relations, based on all types of communication
contacts - Interpersonal face to face
- Interpersonal mediated
- Parasocial
- interactive/artificial
30Starting from the everyday life of people we know
- There is a space of possible communication
contacts - a net of social, personal and parasocial
relations based on realized communication
contacts, more and more by different media
31Social, Parasocial, Personal Relations
- 3. are important for social integration, the
roles of a person, his or her experiences,
reflection, inner dialog and thus for his or her
social character and his identy - 4. A person is a society in miniature, as she or
he consists of the roles and experiences made in
roles (Lindesmith and Strauss, following Tamotsu
Shibutani)
32- This space of possible contacts and also the net
of relations is probably changed by the digital
media - But these changes depend on which media is used
and which cultural and technical conditions are
given - Not only relations change, but in a similar way
the orientation given by reference groups and
membership groups
33As a result about Mediatization
- The communicational and relational net of
everyday live is overlapped by the net of
digitalized communication - An intertwining and intermingling net of everyday
life including digital media comes into
existence, which gets more and more
importance/different influences - The mobile phone separates from more unknown
situations and helps to maintain existing
relations - The Internet/PC separates from given more stable
structures and offers also new relations
34If In/PC and Mobile phone are of future importance
- we can conclude that different types of new
persons will come into existence, depending on
their media use - How stable are they? How different? It depends on
what? - This needs long term empirical research
- as a result of Mediatization/Element of Medium
Theory
35We are living in a huge experiment Who
Controls?(Thanks for your attention)Friedrich.K
rotz_at_uni-erfurt.de