Mobile Media (Non-)Use as Expression of Agency

Abstract

ABSTRACT The literature on mobile media and marginalized groups has focused on the use of mobile media as an agentic, visible, and varied process related to individual empowerment. Conversely, nonuse is often presupposed to be a passive, invisible condition imposed by sociostructural forces. Our paper challenges this binary, positing that mobile media (non-)use can be an expression of agency motivated in response to structural constraints. We posit that (non-)use strategies span two dimensions: contextual-absolute and visible-invisible. Firstly, (non-)use does not always involve the complete absence of mobile media and may manifest in gradations that vary by sociostructural context. Secondly, certain (non-)use strategies may be less visible, and in turn, less likely to invite a sociostructural response, while more visible strategies risk inviting retaliation. We apply this conceptual lens to the context of cisfeminine (n = 17) and transfeminine (n = 17) sex workers in Singapore, who experience intersectional marginalization due to their gender identity, occupation, and migrant status. From our interviews, we develop a provisional typology of mobile media (non-)use strategies that offers insight into the complexities of (non-)use strategies in leading to (dis)empowerment and social transformation.