Premium
The phone connection: A qualitative exploration of how belongingness and social identification relate to mobile phone use amongst Australian youth
Author(s) -
Walsh Shari P.,
White Katherine M.,
Young Ross McD.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
journal of community and applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.042
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1099-1298
pISSN - 1052-9284
DOI - 10.1002/casp.983
Subject(s) - mobile phone , belongingness , social connectedness , psychology , feeling , focus group , phone , social psychology , qualitative research , social identity theory , identity (music) , internet privacy , social group , sociology , computer science , telecommunications , linguistics , philosophy , social science , physics , anthropology , acoustics
Mobile phone use is a prevalent behaviour amongst youth; however, there is little research to determine psychological influences on mobile phone use. This paper reports the results of a qualitative exploration into social psychological factors relating to young people's mobile phone use. Focus groups were conducted with 32 participants, aged between 16 and 24 years. Three major themes, connectedness, belonging and social identity, were explored in relation to young people's mobile phone use. Easy contact with others when using a mobile phone facilitated connectedness between people. A need to remain connected emerged in participants' descriptions of their mobile phone use. Consequently, data were analysed for factors underpinning people's desire to be connected. It emerged that mobile phones were used to enhance feelings of belonging amongst youth. Additionally, group norms influenced mobile phone behaviour indicating that social identity processes are related to mobile phone use. Results in the study provide a foundation upon which to investigate further the relationship between mobile phone use and psychological factors impacting young people's social development. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.