Portable Communities: The Social Dynamics of Online and Mobile Connectedness I blog, text, IM, email, and I don t like to be without my cell phone or have to shut it off even in a theater. Let s put it this way, my connections are more important than whatever I m doing that might force me to shut my cell phone off. A Member of a Portable Community In contemporary American life, community has become a portable phenomenon you can get it to go wherever and whenever it is desired at the push of a button, mouse, or keyboard. In Portable Communities, sociologist Mary Chayko examines the social dynamics and implications of having access to countless others at any time. Teeming with the observations of people who blog, email, instant message, game, and chat on cell phones, wireless computers, and other portable devices, the book captures the appeal and the excitement, the challenges and the complexities, of online and mobile connectedness. Chayko considers some of the external dynamics that emerge as these communities resonate within the larger society constant availability, social interaction that is more controlled and controllable, and new opportunities for self-expression, creativity, and even voyeurism. Internal social dynamics involving emotionality, intimacy, play, romance, and networking are also fully explored. Portable Communities provides a unique view of shifts in the social landscape and points the way toward needed social and political change. |
Contents
THE PORTABILITY OF SOCIAL CONNECTEDNESS | 3 |
INTERNAL DYNAMICS Inside the Portable Community | 15 |
THINKING IN TANDEM Cognitive Connectedness | 17 |
THE COGNITIVE FACE OF THE COMMUNITY | 18 |
SOCIOMENTAL SPACE | 22 |
COGNITIVE RESONANCE | 25 |
STORIES AND COLLECTIVE MEMORIES | 31 |
PROXIMITY PRESENCE AND REALITY | 37 |
COMFORT AND COMPANIONSHIP | 114 |
EMERGENCIES | 120 |
ANXIETY APPREHENSION AND OVERLOAD | 124 |
THE IMPACT ON PRIVACY | 130 |
Harnessing Social Interaction The Control of Time Space and People | 141 |
WHERE WHEN AND WHETHER WE INTERACT | 142 |
TECHNOLOGYBASED STRATEGIES FOR INTERACTION | 145 |
SPONTANEITY AND SOCIAL INTERACTION | 155 |
FEELING CONNECTED Emotionality and Intimacy | 43 |
FRIENDSHIP AND INTIMACY | 44 |
TRUST AND SOCIAL SUPPORT | 51 |
THE MODERATION OF MOODS AND BEHAVIOR | 56 |
PLAYING AROUND Fun Games and Hanging Out | 63 |
GAMES | 64 |
JUST HANGING OUT | 69 |
HUMOR GOSSIP AND FLIRTING | 73 |
THE SEDUCTIVE ALLURE OF FUN | 78 |
SOCIAL NETWORKING Convenience Practicality and Sociability | 87 |
SOCIABILITY | 88 |
CONVENIENCE | 93 |
DATING ROMANCE AND SEX | 97 |
LEARNING WORKING AND GETTING THINGS DONE | 101 |
EXTERNAL DYNAMICS The Portable Community in the Society | 111 |
BEING THERE Constant Availability | 113 |
CREATING EXPRESSING AND EXTENDING THE SELF and Watching Others Do So | 159 |
SOCIALIZATION IN A TECHNOLOGICAL AGE | 160 |
THE MAKING AND REMAKING OF THE SELF | 166 |
VOYEURISM WATCHING AND LURKING | 173 |
MULTITASKING AND THE HYPERLINKING OF IDENTITY | 178 |
SHAPING A SOCIAL LANDSCAPE Equalities Inequalities Possibilities | 183 |
TECHNOLOGICAL DIVIDES AND POWER DIFFERENTIALS | 184 |
OLD PROBLEMS NEW ANGLES | 186 |
MOBILIZING FOR SOCIAL CHANGE | 191 |
A LOOK AHEAD | 197 |
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS | 203 |
THE METHODOLOGY | 205 |
PROFILES OF INTERVIEW SUBJECTS | 215 |
NOTES | 233 |
255 | |
291 | |
Other editions - View all
Portable Communities: The Social Dynamics of Online and Mobile Connectedness Mary Chayko Limited preview - 2008 |
Portable Communities: The Social Dynamics of Online and Mobile Connectedness Mary Chayko Limited preview - 2008 |
Portable Communities: The Social Dynamics of Online and Mobile Connectedness Mary Chayko No preview available - 2008 |
Common terms and phrases
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