Mobile devices, interaction, and distraction: a qualitative exploration of absent presence

Abstract

Mobile devices have become an ever-present and indispensible part of our lives. Despite this pronounced ubiquity, few studies have addressed the influence of mobile devices on everyday social interaction. The purpose of this article is to examine such social ramifications. Specifically, this study offers an in-depth qualitative exploration of so-called absent presence, the state where a partner is physically present, yet absorbed by a technologically mediated world of elsewhere. Building on interviews about technology use with Danish students, findings suggest that the microsocial dynamics at stake in such impaired social interaction include delayed responses, mechanical intonation, a motionless body, and a lack of eye contact. Appropriating developmental psychologist Daniel Stern’s terminology, it is suggested that this mismatch between the vitality of a person and his or her absently present conversational partner amounts to a kind of unintentional misattunement which disrupts the smooth flow of ordinary interaction and signals indifference to what is being said. On this basis, absent presence is distinguished from related concepts of daydreaming and mind wandering. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.