"We will be reached": the use of mobile telephony among Norwegian youth

This paper examines the use of mobile telephones by teens in Norway. The data for this study is based on two sources; first I draw on qualitative interviews with a sample of 12 families with teens in the greater Oslo area. In addition, I use a quantitative study of a national sample of 1000 randomly selected teens. This material was gathered in the summer and fall of 1997. The data shows that it is boys, most often those who work, that own mobile telephones. The qualitative analysis shows that the motifs for owning mobile telephones are accessibility, safety and micro-coordination. In addition, the mobile telephone serves as a symbol of emancipation. Metaphors surrounding the telephone allow for discussions of status construction and identification. 1 Introduction The mobile telephone is being adopted by younger and younger Norwegian teens every day. Where ten years ago, the mobile telephone was a large device used only by well-heeled yuppies in their cars, today it is a small sleek device that has been adopted by many groups in society. The combination of increasing portability, falling traffic charges and subsidized subscriptions has meant that no sector of Norwegian society is immune from the mobile telephone culture. The arrival of prepaid mobile telephones in which the user purchases a fixed amount of access beforehand – rather than the traditional system of paying for use after the fact – means that this penetration will increase. While the technology is becoming mature, our social definition of it is still undergoing social interpretation and definition (Manning 1996). As its adoption continues and as its use creeps into more and more untraditional areas of life, one is forced to reinterpret and expand their notions of telephony. This is good stuff for sociologists. It allows us to peek behind the curtain and see the development of norm development. This paper juxtaposes the introduction of ever more sophisticated and elegant mobile telephony against the backdrop of adolescence – that period of life in which there is perhaps the greatest redefi-nition of the self. One moves from the generally routinized family of orientation into the limbo of puberty and prepares themselves for participation in a family of procreation. The preparation includes 1 The proper citation for this paper is: Ling, R. 2000. " 'We will be reached': The use of mobile telephony among Norwegian youth. " Information technology and people 13 (2), 102-120.