Abstract
Using Giddens’ (1984) structuration theory we examine how social structures in mobile communication technologies shape the everyday life of individuals, thereby re-shaping power dynamics that underlie the social organization of society. We argue that the anytime, anyplace connectivity afforded by mobile communication technologies structures society by imposing a network, social and personal logic. We discuss how each logic both reproduces and challenges traditional power structures, at the micro- as well as macro-level. At the micro-level, the network logic refers to mobile communication technologies’ capacity to organize activities in a networked fashion, granting people greater autonomy from time and place. The social logic refers to mobile communication technologies’ capacity for perpetual contact, fostering social connectedness with social relationships. The personal logic refers to mobile communication technologies’ capacity to serve as extensions of the Self, with which people can personalize contents, services, place and time. The flipside of these logics is that, at the micro-level, the responsibility to operate autonomously, to maintain personal social networks, and to manage and act based on personal information shifts to the individual. We also notice shifts in power structures at the macro-level. For instance, to reap the benefits of mobile communication technology individuals engage in free ‘digital labor’ and tolerate new forms of surveillance and control.
Highlights
Over the past decade, ubiquitous connectivity has become ingrained in everyday life
If we wish to understand how mobile communication technologies shape everyday life and the power dynamics that underlie it, we must focus on the social structures
At the macro-level, we examine how the technological structuration process interacts with general structuration processes, thereby reproducing and reshaping institutional power dynamics
Summary
Ubiquitous connectivity has become ingrained in everyday life. We use mobile communication technologies such as smartphones, tablets and laptops to interact with others, with services and with our device wherever we are and whenever we want. As Deuze (2011) argues, we reach a situation where we live “in” rather than “with” media, as these can no longer be seen as separate from us and become invisible because they are everywhere This appears true of mobile communication technologies, as we take their anytime, anyplace connectivity for granted (Ling, 2012). If we wish to understand how mobile communication technologies shape everyday life and the power dynamics that underlie it, we must focus on the social structures (cf DeSanctis & Poole, 1994) in these technologies. Technologies structure human behavior because their affordances enable and constrain human action while, simultaneously, human agents structure the technology by designing, producing and marketing it, appropriating it (or not), and embedding it into everyday life (Hutchby, 2001) The aim of this theoretical article is to unravel how the technological structuration process takes shape on the ground in the context of mobile communication technologies. Our conceptual analysis serves as a lens that helps understand, structure, describe and discuss the implications of anyplace, anytime connectivity
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