America Untethered

American Demographics, March 1, 2003

* The Wireless Lifestyle

That same kind of active participation in wireless life was a central theme in an ethnographic study by Context-Based Research Group released in January. Blinkoff and his team of ethnographers found mobile phone users integrating wireless into their lives. Ironically, the more they integrated it, the more juggling they had to do.

"Consistently, we can say it's a lifestyle, and point after point, we see people changing their lifestyles because of [mobile phones]," says Blinkoff. "But a lot of time people are also using [wireless] as a crutch."

The new study is a follow-up to a 2000 survey in which Blinkoff and his team spent time with mobile phone users in Europe, Asia, Latin America, New York and San Francisco to get a picture of the cultural dynamics of wireless life. Back then, the Context researchers found Americans still new to wireless communication, tending to have "device fascination" but not knowing how to use the phones to their full extent. When they returned to many of the same locations last summer to study 144 phone users in seven cities, the researchers observed changes in how the subjects related to mobile life. In the U.S., says Blinkoff, people were far more concerned with wireless as an enabler than as a toy, and they had learned to use the wireless features they needed while ignoring those they didn't.

To be sure, Context's sample cell phone users tend to represent a far more technology-savvy bunch than other researchers have chosen. Even in the U.S., for example, they chose to study several Europeans who were more familiar with mobile phones than the average American. "We weren't necessarily looking for average Americans - we were looking for people who are mobile and invested in the lifestyle," notes Kit Waskom, project director at Context.

Nonetheless, Context's researchers concluded that most mobile users give a taste of things to come. Their findings, including the predilection of cell phone users to be late and to micromanage time, mirrored those of other researchers.

If wireless is encouraging people to gab, it's also giving them newfound spontaneity. With cell phones in hand, both Palen and Blinkoff's research subjects could change their plans at the last minute more easily, deciding to meet at a different location, say, or inviting others to join their group. "Pietro," for example, an engineer in Italy for whom wireless is his lifeblood, was among those who were chronically late. Blinkoff and his team noticed that Pietro's frequent calls to say he would be delayed dramatically eased his relationships with clients and colleagues.

In Brazil, Australia and the U.S., cell phone users repeatedly admitted that they now often call friends and colleagues to tell them they're running behind schedule. In turn, being late is becoming more acceptable than it used to be, Blinkoff and Palen conclude. "Mobile technology is starting to remove a strict adherence to a schedule. It's a loss in respect for calendar time," says Palen. "And that's happening across the board in all sorts of interactions."