C42.
Rice, R. E., & Katz, J. E. (2003). Mobile discourtesy: National
survey
results on episodes of convergent public and private spheres. In N.
Kristof (Ed.), Mobile democracy: Essays on society, self and
politics
(pp.
53-64). Vienna: Passagen Verlag.
Because it involves speaking and concentration,
mobile
phone usage also represents a new incursion of the private into the
public
(as opposed to the more critiqued incursion of the public/corporate
into
the private realm of home and relationships). Indeed, we find
much
more evidence of perceived thoughtlessness of generalized others using
their mobile phones in public (especially while driving, but also in
restaurants,
movies and other public places) (67%) than of one’s own
spouse/bestfriend
(around 10%). And, even those thoughtless uses are more perceived
by those who have satisfying communication with their socially close
others,
have children, and use the phone less frequently to communicate with
their
spouse/bestfriend. It seems likely that use by one’s
spouse/bestfriend
is perceived and evaluated in the context of a private setting, and
thus
seen as less thoughtless, even while others are perceiving that very
same
interaction as a thoughtless incursion into their public setting.
In this sense, we have some preliminary evidence of a convergence of
the
public and the private, with the private interaction trumping the
public
peace, as well as perceptions of behaviors.
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