IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/urbstu/v50y2013i3p587-605.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Mobile Technologies and Youthful Exploration: Stimulus or Inhibitor?

Author

Listed:
  • Michael Leyshon
  • Sean DiGiovanna
  • Briavel Holcomb

Abstract

In this paper, an examination is made of how young people locate themselves in the world through using GPS-enabled mobile phones. Three research themes are explored. First, how GPS mobile phones encourage young people to explore new territory by providing both spatial information and a ‘lifeline’ to security. Secondly, how parental surveillance encourages or discourages exploration. Finally, how the accessibility of spatial data reduces the need to try new routes or memorise landscape features. In so doing, two myths of mobile phone use are challenged: that the revolution in mobile technology has caused the ‘death of distance’ and created a borderless world through space–time compression and that mobile technologies atomise quotidian life into a series of impersonal mediated encounters. The research, conducted in New Jersey, USA, and Cornwall, UK, shows that mobile phones appear to give young people more confidence in exploring new places, but also distract them from observing their surroundings.

Suggested Citation

  • Michael Leyshon & Sean DiGiovanna & Briavel Holcomb, 2013. "Mobile Technologies and Youthful Exploration: Stimulus or Inhibitor?," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 50(3), pages 587-605, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:50:y:2013:i:3:p:587-605
    DOI: 10.1177/0042098012468897
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0042098012468897
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0042098012468897?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jacob L. Vigdor & Helen F. Ladd & Erika Martinez, 2014. "Scaling The Digital Divide: Home Computer Technology And Student Achievement," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 52(3), pages 1103-1119, July.
    2. Karen Tillberg Mattsson, 2002. "Children’s (in)dependent mobility and parents’ chauffeuring in the town and the countryside," Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, vol. 93(4), pages 443-453, September.
    3. Fyhri, Aslak & Hjorthol, Randi & Mackett, Roger L. & Fotel, Trine Nordgaard & Kyttä, Marketta, 2011. "Children's active travel and independent mobility in four countries: Development, social contributing trends and measures," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 18(5), pages 703-710, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Isabel Marzi & Anne Kerstin Reimers, 2018. "Children’s Independent Mobility: Current Knowledge, Future Directions, and Public Health Implications," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-15, November.
    2. Marzi, Isabel & Beck, Franziska & Engels, Eliane & Renninger, Denise & Demetriou, Yolanda & Reimers, Anne K., 2023. "Adolescents' travel behavior in Germany: Investigating transport mode choice considering destination, travel distance, and urbanization," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    3. Jones, Peter & Lucas, Karen, 2012. "The social consequences of transport decision-making: clarifying concepts, synthesising knowledge and assessing implications," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 21(C), pages 4-16.
    4. Lopes, F. & Cordovil, R. & Neto, C., 2014. "Children’s independent mobility in Portugal: effects of urbanization degree and motorized modes of travel," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 210-219.
    5. Kyttä, Marketta & Hirvonen, Jukka & Rudner, Julie & Pirjola, Iiris & Laatikainen, Tiina, 2015. "The last free-range children? Children’s independent mobility in Finland in the 1990s and 2010s," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 1-12.
    6. Peter Bergman, 2020. "Nudging Technology Use: Descriptive and Experimental Evidence from School Information Systems," Education Finance and Policy, MIT Press, vol. 15(4), pages 623-647, Fall.
    7. Elias, Wafa & Katoshevski-Cavari, Rachel, 2014. "The role of socio-economic and environmental characteristics in school-commuting behavior: A comparative study of Jewish and Arab children in Israel," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 79-87.
    8. Vladana Djinovic & Nicholas Giannakopoulos, 2024. "Home computer ownership and educational outcomes of adolescents in Greece," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(4), pages 523-537, July.
    9. Hayet Kerras & Susana Bautista & Danilo Santos Piñeros Perea & María Dolores de-Miguel Gómez, 2022. "Closing the Digital Gender Gap among Foreign University Students: The Challenges Ahead," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-28, September.
    10. Fairlie, Robert W. & Kalil, Ariel, 2017. "The effects of computers on children's social development and school participation: Evidence from a randomized control experiment," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 10-19.
    11. Benjamin Faber & Rosa Sanchis-Guarner & Felix Weinhardt, 2015. "ICT and Education: Evidence from Student Home Addresses," SERC Discussion Papers 0186, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    12. M. Niaz Asadullah & Anindita Bhattacharjee, 2022. "Digital Divide or Digital Provide? Technology, Time Use, and Learning Loss during COVID-19," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 58(10), pages 1934-1957, October.
    13. Bergman, Peter & Rogers, Todd, 2017. "The Impact of Defaults on Technology Adoption, and Its Underappreciation by Pollicymakers," Working Paper Series rwp17-021, Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government.
    14. Raktim Mitra & Guy EJ Faulkner & Ron N Buliung & Michelle R Stone, 2014. "Do parental perceptions of the neighbourhood environment influence children’s independent mobility? Evidence from Toronto, Canada," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 51(16), pages 3401-3419, December.
    15. Ermagun, Alireza & Levinson, David, 2016. "Intra-household bargaining for school trip accompaniment of children: A group decision approach," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 222-234.
    16. Dieneke Van de Sompel & Liselot Hudders & Lore Vandenberghe, 2020. "Cycling for a Sustainable Future. Stimulating Children to Cycle to School via a Synergetic Combination of Informational and Behavioral Interventions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-18, April.
    17. João De Abreu e Silva, 2018. "The Effects of Land-Use Patterns on Home-Based Tour Complexity and Total Distances Traveled: A Path Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-16, March.
    18. Giorgio Di Pietro & Federico Biagi & Patricia Costa & Zbigniew Karpinski & Jacopo Mazza, 2020. "The likely impact of COVID-19 on education: Reflections based on the existing literature and recent international datasets," JRC Research Reports JRC121071, Joint Research Centre.
    19. Janet Loebach & Marcos Sanches & Julia Jaffe & Tara Elton-Marshall, 2021. "Paving the Way for Outdoor Play: Examining Socio-Environmental Barriers to Community-Based Outdoor Play," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(7), pages 1-25, March.
    20. Malamud, Ofer & Cueto, Santiago & Cristia, Julian & Beuermann, Diether W., 2019. "Do children benefit from internet access? Experimental evidence from Peru," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 41-56.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:sae:urbstu:v:50:y:2013:i:3:p:587-605. 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: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.gla.ac.uk/departments/urbanstudiesjournal .

    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.