MOBILEPHONES,JAPANESEYOUTH,SOCIALCONTACTPresentedAnnualMeetingSocialStudiesScienceNovember2001MizukoItosequencefrompopularJapanesecomicstrip,Gals,giveyouJapaneseteensframingissuessceneopensourprotagonist,Ran,highschoolsophomore,sittingherbedherpajamas,scowlinghermobilephoneshowingoneam ReferringherboyfriendsheyellsjerkTatsukichihasvoicemailhisphoneagain!He’stellingmehe’sbusyhiswork…!he’scheatingsomething?!”Hersister,Sayo,suddenlyappears “Hm…youtworeallydon’tconnectdoyou ”“Hey!WhatyoudoinghereSayo!”dangeroussign truecouplepipipirelationeachother ”What?‘Pipipi’?”amsendingmyMasatoloveyouvibesrightnow ”Sayo’sphonerings,showing“Masato”screen Rantriesavail Hervibesfailgetthroughherboyfriendsheleavesangrymessagehisvoicemailsayinggoingouthotguys Fujii2001 calloutfewaspectsscene First,mostobviously,mobilephoneappearsfetishizedobject,highlypersonalized,decoratedstickers,specialhandstrapsrelationalconnectivity relationalbreakdownbetweenRantemporaldisconnect,immediateaccessthroughmobilephone Masato’sultra-connectednessdespitespatialdistance Allshehasherboyfriendherphonerings Moreoneam,summernight Afterparentsrelationalprimetimeconnection,evenwhileallexpectedhome Tatsukichi’sinavailabilitysuspicioussignsocialscenewouldhavebeenimpossiblepriormobilephone Kidswouldn’thaveownpersonalphones,muchlesshavehadcalleachotherallhoursweehoursnightwouldhavebeentightlycontrolledparent-dominatedspaceonecouldhardlyimaginemessageabout“lookinghotguys”beingleftparent,muchlessafteroneam mobilephonereshapesrelationshipsJapaneseyouth,lookingwhatDoreenMasseyhascalledspace-timecompression ”Arguingagainst“easyexcitednotionsundifferentiatedspace-timecompression,” Massey1993:63 Masseyarguesdifferentsocialgroupsverydistinctwayslatemodernflowsmedia,people,pointconcernswhomoveswhodoesn’t,althoughimportantelementalsoaboutpowermovement Differentsocialgroupshavedistinctrelationshipsanyway-differentiatedmobility;somethanothers;someinitiateflowsmovement,othersdon’t;somereceivingendthanothers;someeffectivelyimprisonedit ” Massey1993:61 drawfromMassey’sframing,alsoworkfurtherspace-timecompression certainpeopledifferentiallylocatedwithinsamepersoncanlackingcontrolculturalflowsdependinglifecyclestage,differentspatialtemporallocationsnewtechnology othersdependingmobilemediatakescentralrolemobilephonemorerecentemblematictechnologiesspace-timecompression,toutedanytime,anywhereconnectivity,supposedlyfreeinguserfromtime HeinrichSchwarzhiscolleagueshavecritiquedmoreflexible,mobile,temporarytechnologicallymediatedwork ”hiddenworkvirtualwork”describessomeincreasedconnectivity,workersstruggleownflexiblenetworkstechnologies Schwarz,Nardi,Whittaker1999 allfreedomvirtualwork,Masseysuggests,ongoingnegotiation,socialdifferentiation, alsoshare locatewhat kinds socialpractices get played out through new media technologies problemthrough verydifferent case, however, high-techworkers Schwarzet al’s study mobile-phonetoting executive, posterperson mobilephone teenagegirl, particularly street-rovingfashion victims called ko-gyaru little gals like Ran pasttwo years, havebeen conducting ethnographic research children’stechnoculture Tokyo My focus has been mediaecologies children,looking negotiationsaround media consumption strugglebetween children,peers, parents, mediaindustries high-techworker highlypaid executives, youths lack financial socialpower, highlyregulated adult-dominatedinstitutions school While dohave large amounts discretionarytime, energy, workingprofessionals certainstructural absolutes, educationalrequirements attentionaleconomies wouldlike giveyou dynamics,looking howmobile phone use specificsocial locations youthoccupy urbanJapanese culture turn,how usage reshapes relationships time,space, peers, otherwords, howJapanese youths’ mobile phone use bothlocated within existingpower-geometry space-timecompression, differentones drawingfrom my ongoing fieldwork mostspecifically, from interviews conducted twenty-fourhigh school collegestudents about mobilephone use First, briefoverview howyouths Tokyouse mobile phones, before moving morespecific examples Mobile communications have been used extensively among Japanese youth since mid-ninetieswhen pagers became commonaccessory highschool collegestudents Different variants mobilephones have proliferated since latenineties, pastthree years hasbecome common highschool students carrythem Mobile phone ownership approximately60% overallpopulation mostheavily concentrated youngadult populations Getting mobilephone passage,which, until very recently, marked moreindependent life, generallygiven kidswhen enterhigh school cross-culturalsimilarities mobilephones Ling Yttri2001, Weilenmann Larsson2001 example,Rich Ling BirgitteYttri have described how Norwegian youths have distinctpattern usage,which call“hyper-coordination ” moreinstrumental uses oldersubjects described, youths Yttri’sstudy describe how socialcommunications, particularly cementingpeer relations “Unlike adults who could feel stressed mobiletelephone, teensthrived interaction” Ling Yttri2001 Ling Yttridescribe adolescence uniquetime lifecycle,how peers play centralrole during mobilephone becomes boundarybetween socialnetworks Ling Yttri2001 workresonates haveobserved howphones occupy centralrole socialnegotiations among Japanese youths identifyinguses mobilephone, alsoimportant practiceswithin power-geometries time Uses mobilephone directexpressions groupidentity, time,space, socialrelations alsosome peculiarities urbanJapanese case location,particularly homecontext While amignorant canmake some comparisons US Most notably, Japanese youths, through college, have less private space compared UScounterparts Japaneseurban home middle-classAmerican standards, childrengenerally share parent Most college students Tokyolive parents,often even after beginwork, urbanarea prohibitivelyhigh Because factors,urban Japanese youth generally take highschool students, usuallymeans localfast food restaurant wayhome from school College kids have bitmore time mobility,gathering cafes,stores, bars, karaokespots urbancenters Again, unlike ownlandline certainage, privatephone Japanesehome veryhigh, from $600 USD up,about twice what mobilephone thusextremely rare havemore than one landline When turning schoolcontext, variabilityabout how teachers deal mobilephones, general,schools gettingstricter mobilephones become more pervasive acquiremore functionality mobilephones out desksduring class, claiming clockfunction someschools prohibit use entirely, allteachers we have heard prohibitvoice calls ringersduring mobilephone gets used most frequently during lunchtime hour immediatelyafter school, studentsscurry hookup friends Other spaces youthsfrequent have varying degrees phoneuse Public transportation generallyoff- limits voicecalls, though text input consideredacceptable Most trains, buses, manyrestaurants display mobilephone signs ” trainplatforms voicecalls, generallyextremely noisy, sustainedconversation locations Students move back forthfrom mayhave some privacy discretionover lackphysical access physicallyco-present havesevere constraints socialcontact mobilephone becomes overcomingsome constraintsinherent powergeometries app(安徒生童话有哪些？《海的女儿》、《丑小鸭》、《屎壳郎》、《野天鹅》、《夜莺》、《雪人》、《瓶颈》、《拇指姑娘》、《园丁与主人》、《冰雪女皇》、《小猪倌》、《笨蛋杰克》、《豌豆上的公主》《坚定的锡兵》、《肉肠签子汤》、《老爹做的事总是对的》、《飞箱》等。)ropriatingspaces street,restaurants, publictransporation Let me move interviews First, giveyou howhigh school students view parent-dominatedplace home,which has traditionally been phonecontact Than describealternative networked places enabled mobilephones Here excerptfrom fourhigh school girls who closefriends Interviewer: You all live close eachother Do you visit each other’s homes? Student1: We don’t ourparents get ourcase, toosweet youworry about saying something rude, talkingtoo loud You can’t toorowdy So we don’t meet ourhomes Student2: Occasionally Maybe once year Actually, evenoccasional Student1: friend’shouse where ownroom veryconsistent across weinterviewed Meetings among friends almost always occurred third-partyspace run indifferentadults, fastfood restaurant, karaoke spot, familyrestaurant Even collegestudents living generallyso small hangingout phonehas always been spatialboundary eachother late shutout siblings However, mobilephone has revolutionalized space-timecompression homelandline communalone, expressing entirefamily rather than individualteen problemhere siblingwhen trying friend,particularly madelate nightwhen family members were likely asleep While werevariations howcomfortable feltcalling homephone, all weinterviewed were consistent mobilerather than home phone greatercost mobilephone call, which oftenpaid out parttime jobs Youths now generally do homephone numbers mostintimate friends Here fewquotes provideyou responses One college boy explains: before,now you don’t have homephone cancall someone direct Before, when you wanted someone,you had homephone father,mother, brother person Yeah, people say didn’tfeel like somuch calllate night,so feltkind badabout whatevertime botheringanyone highschool girl describes how she makes gender-based choices whatphone call Interviewer: Do you call friends mobilephone? Student: haveone, girl,well, girlright? So amjust regularfriend boy,his family might tease him, I’vemade friendvery uncomfortable pastbecause I’vealso been told some nasty things totallypissed off when boytold me off like propergirl So since don’tuse homephone Finally, highschool boy states his clear preference mobilephone, even meansincurring highcosts callingfrom mobilephone, which moreexpensive even than calling mobile mobile Interviewer: Do you make long calls, over thirty minutes from your mobile? Student: Well, longcalls, mightcall from my home phone myfriend’s mobile Because don’tpay myhome phone, my folks do Interviewer: youdon’t call your friend’s home phone even home,dominated parents,accommodates youths’ identity homephone once children’srelationships peers One girl we spoke describedhow her mother complains shedoesn’t know who her friends mobilephone, spatialboundaries homebecome highly porous discretionarycommunication spatialdispersion homes,coupled communicationvia mobilephone classroom,where kids occupy samephysical space, eachother turnnow howkids use mobile phone text messaging otherspaces publictransportation voicecalls talk,which traces alternative,networked places beingconstructed out mobilephone communications textmessage function mobilephone allows one sendshort electronic mail messages othermobile phones internetmail addresses Youths soproficient typingmessages tinykeypads inputingtext through phonesthan through computerkeyboard Short messages dominantfunctionality used mobilephones youths,far outpacing phone calls One reason eachmessage costing about cents Another textmessaging can maintainingperipheral lightweightawareness contact Text messaging usedwhen urgent,when voicecommunication, whenone unsureabout whether generalexpectation oneshould textmessage immediately, working Text messages can returneddiscreetly during class, publictransportation, restaurants,all contexts where voice communication would inappropriate Kids have traditionally subverted communicativeconstraints classroomthrough whispers note-passing Now, textmessaging function mobilephones performs role Here excerptfrom groupinterview threefemale colleges students where we shortmailuse Shortmail onevariant textmessaging Interviewer: When you send shortmail message, does getreturned right away? Student1:Yes Research Assistant: Shortmail usually gets returned immediately Student2: generallyreturn shortmail right away Interviewer: spot?Student2: Usually spot Interviewer: caseswhen you can’t answer right away Student2: Depending rightaway myanswer, apologylike “Sorry myslow reply ” Interviewer: actuallymake voiceconnection? becauseyou worry about toll?Student1: onefactor Student3: moment Student1: oneway canreply later Interviewees described how usetext messages awake,before initiating voicecall long-distanceglance shoulder Others described how