IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/teinso/v34y2012i1p33-43.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Organization of the social sphere and typology of the residential setting: How the adoption of the mobile phone affects sociability in rural and urban locations

Author

Listed:
  • Fortunati, Leopoldina
  • Taipale, Sakari

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to explore the role that the possession of the mobile phone plays in the organization of the relational sphere at a social level, in different geographical settings. The research questions were: is the possession of a mobile phone more connected to urban or to rural life, and does the possession of a mobile phone influence differently the organization of the social sphere in rural and urban settings? Data on the possession of mobile phones, the frequency of forms of communicative sociability, and various socio-demographic variables were collected by means of a phone survey in 2009. The sample is representative of the population in the five most populous and industrialized European countries: Italy, France, UK, Germany and Spain (N = 7255). The study shows that there is not a dichotomy between rural towns and urban territories regarding the possession of mobile phones. In addition, the study shows that the mobile phone is significantly related to the majority of forms of sociability, especially to those forms such as going out to restaurants, cinemas, and theatres, and visiting friends or inviting them to one’s own home. However, visiting relatives or inviting them to one’s home is not related, and participation in civil society activities is not connected to the possession of mobile phones.

Suggested Citation

  • Fortunati, Leopoldina & Taipale, Sakari, 2012. "Organization of the social sphere and typology of the residential setting: How the adoption of the mobile phone affects sociability in rural and urban locations," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 33-43.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:teinso:v:34:y:2012:i:1:p:33-43
    DOI: 10.1016/j.techsoc.2011.12.004
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160791X11000716
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.techsoc.2011.12.004?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Andonova, Veneta, 2006. "Mobile phones, the Internet and the institutional environment," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 29-45, February.
    2. Preston, Paschal & Cawley, Anthony & Metykova, Monika, 0. "Broadband and rural areas in the EU: From technology to applications and use," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 31(6-7), pages 389-400, July.
    3. Rice, Ronald E. & Katz, James E., 0. "Comparing internet and mobile phone usage: digital divides of usage, adoption, and dropouts," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 27(8-9), pages 597-623, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Bulu, Melih, 2014. "Upgrading a city via technology," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 63-67.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Mignamissi, Dieudonné & Djijo T., Audrey J., 2021. "Digital divide and financial development in Africa," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(9).
    2. Mona Badran, 2014. "Young people and the digital divide in Egypt: an empirical study," Eurasian Economic Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 4(2), pages 223-250, December.
    3. David Baines, 2012. "Hyper-local news: A glue to hold rural communities together?," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 27(2), pages 152-166, March.
    4. Dohse, Dirk & Lim, Cheng Yee, 2016. "Macro-geographic location and internet adoption in poor countries: What is behind the persistent digital gap?," Kiel Working Papers 2067, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    5. Luis Hernando Gutierrez & Luis Fernando Gamboa, 2008. "An approximation to the digital divide among low income people in Colombia, Mexico and Perú: two composite indexes," Documentos de Trabajo 4710, Universidad del Rosario.
    6. Fiona Williams & Lorna Philip & John Farrington & Gorry Fairhurst, 2016. "‘Digital by Default’ and the ‘hard to reach’: Exploring solutions to digital exclusion in remote rural areas," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 31(7), pages 757-777, November.
    7. Penard, Thierry & Poussing, Nicolas & Mukoko, Blaise & Tamokwe Piaptie, Georges Bertrand, 2015. "Internet adoption and usage patterns in Africa: Evidence from Cameroon," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 71-80.
    8. Marios A. Pappas & Eleftheria Demertzi & Yannis Papagerasimou & Lefteris Koukianakis & Nikitas Voukelatos & Athanasios Drigas, 2019. "Cognitive-Based E-Learning Design for Older Adults," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 8(1), pages 1-18, January.
    9. Welsch, Manuel & Bazilian, Morgan & Howells, Mark & Divan, Deepak & Elzinga, David & Strbac, Goran & Jones, Lawrence & Keane, Andrew & Gielen, Dolf & Balijepalli, V.S.K. Murthy & Brew-Hammond, Abeeku , 2013. "Smart and Just Grids for sub-Saharan Africa: Exploring options," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 20(C), pages 336-352.
    10. Sayyid Ali Banihashemi & Zahra Rejaei, 2015. "Analysis of the Digital Divide in Asia-Islamic Countries: A TOPSIS Approach," Journal of Asian Scientific Research, Asian Economic and Social Society, vol. 5(4), pages 165-176, April.
    11. Díaz, Luis & Andonova, Veneta Stefanova, 2007. "Political institutions and the development of telecommunications," Working Papers 2072/4176, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Department of Economics.
    12. Chris Gilleard & Ian Jones & Paul Higgs, 2015. "Connectivity in Later Life: The Declining Age Divide in Mobile Cell Phone Ownership," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 20(2), pages 1-13, May.
    13. Simplice A. Asongu & Paul N. Acha-Anyi, 2017. "ICT, conflicts in financial intermediation and financial access: evidence of synergy and threshold effects," Netnomics, Springer, vol. 18(2), pages 131-168, December.
    14. Richard Perkins & Eric Neumayer, 2011. "Is the internet really new after all?: the determinants of telecommunications diffusion in historical perspective," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 30800, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    15. Garth Heutel & Erich Muehlegger, 2015. "Consumer Learning and Hybrid Vehicle Adoption," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 62(1), pages 125-161, September.
    16. Hewa Wellalage, Nirosha & Hunjra, Ahmed Imran & Manita, Riadh & Locke, Stuart M., 2021. "Information communication technology and financial inclusion of innovative entrepreneurs," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    17. Joerg Koenigstorfer & Andrea Groeppel-Klein, 2012. "Consumer acceptance of the mobile Internet," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 23(4), pages 917-928, December.
    18. Chiha, Asma & Van der Wee, Marlies & Colle, Didier & Verbrugge, Sofie, 2020. "Techno-economic viability of integrating satellite communication in 4G networks to bridge the broadband digital divide," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(3).
    19. Thierry PENARD & Nicolas POUSSING & Gabriel ZOMO YEBE & Philémon NSI ELLA, 2012. "Comparing the Determinants of Internet and Cell Phone Use in Africa: Evidence from Gabon," Communications & Strategies, IDATE, Com&Strat dept., vol. 1(86), pages 65-83, 2nd quart.
    20. Simplice A. Asongu & Jacinta C. Nwachukwu, 2019. "ICT, Financial Sector Development and Financial Access," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 10(2), pages 465-490, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:teinso:v:34:y:2012:i:1:p:33-43. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/technology-in-society .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.