The Dance of Life (Digital Remix)

Abstract

This paper studies how the time perceptions and lifestyles of Singaporeans have been influenced by the growing ubiquity of the mobile phone. It also examines the impact of mobile communication on the norms and attitudes pertaining to time management and social interaction in Singapore. In so doing, this paper explores the continued relevance of the monochronic / polychronic conception of time proposed in Edward Hall’s The Dance of Life (1983). It suggests that a hybrid, “mobilechronic” temporality appears to be emerging, where people in predominantly monochronic cultures are engaging in more polychronic behaviour facilitated by mobile communication, and have to nimbly navigate between two temporal modes.