How and Why People are Using Mobile Phones for Gossip

The Social Issues Research Centre in Oxford has come up with a report into mobile phones, gossiping and their role in society which suggests that cellphones provide the new garden fence and can be good for morale.

The report 'Evolution, Alienation and Gossip:
The role of mobile telecommunications in the 21st century' by Kate Fox, examines the use of mobile phones and debunks some prevalent myths.

'In the fast-paced modern world, we had become severely restricted in both the quantity and quality of communication with our social network,' says the report. 'Mobile gossip restores our sense of connection and community, and provides an antidote to the pressures and alienation of modern life.' It describes mobiles as a 'social lifeline' in a fragmented and isolating world, citing Robin Dunbar's work on the valuable role of gossip as an evolutionary stand-in for grooming as social networks grew too large to maintain by actual touch.

The study also suggests that, contrary to belief, men gossip quite as much as women, only to different groups of friends, with men more likely to gossip with work colleagues, partners and female friends, while women talk more frequently with same-sex friends and family.

The mobile is also used as a 'symbolic bodyguard' by women when feeling vulnerable in public places - in the way that they used to use a newspaper of magazine as a barrier signal.

The report also looks at texting, saying it 're-creates the brief, frequent, spontaneous connections with members of our social network that characterised the small communities of pre-industrial times' and is often used as a 'trailer' for a longer conversation around a subject.

Teenagers use of mobiles also gets a section.

Associated Link: Evolution, Alienation and Gossip

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