Table Of ContentStudiesinChildhoodandYouth
Series Editors: Allison James, University of Sheffield, UK, and Adrian James,
UniversityofSheffield,UK
Titlesinclude:
KateBacon
TWINSINSOCIETY
Parents,Bodies,SpaceandTalk
EmmaBond
CHILDHOOD,MOBILETECHNOLOGIESANDEVERYDAYEXPERIENCES
ChangingTechnologies=ChangingChildhoods?
DavidBuckingham,SaraBraggandMaryJaneKehily
YOUTHCULTURESINTHEAGEOFGLOBALMEDIA
DavidBuckinghamandVebjørgTingstad(editors)
CHILDHOODANDCONSUMERCULTURE
TomCockburn
RETHINKINGCHILDREN’SCITIZENSHIP
SamFrankel
CHILDREN,MORALITYANDSOCIETY
AllisonJames
SOCIALISINGCHILDREN
AllisonJames,AnneTrineKjørholtandVebjørgTingstad(editors)
CHILDREN,FOODANDIDENTITYINEVERYDAYLIFE
NicholasLee
CHILDHOODANDBIOPOLITICS
ClimateChange,LifeProcessesandHumanFutures
ManfredLiebel,KarlHanson,IvenSaadiandWouterVandenhole(editors)
CHILDREN’SRIGHTSFROMBELOW
Cross-CulturalPerspectives
OrnaNaftali
CHILDREN,RIGHTSANDMODERNITYINCHINA
RaisingSelf-GoverningCitizens
HelenStapleton
SURVIVINGTEENAGEMOTHERHOOD
MythsandRealities
AfuaTwum-DansoImohandRobertAme
CHILDHOODSATTHEINTERSECTIONOFTHELOCALANDTHEGLOBAL
HanneWarming
PARTICIPATION,CITIZENSHIPANDTRUSTINCHILDREN’SLIVES
KarenWells,EricaBurman,HeatherMontgomeryandAlisonWatson(editors)
CHILDHOOD,YOUTHANDVIOLENCEINGLOBALCONTEXTS
ResearchandPracticeinDialogue
RebekahWillett,ChrisRichards,JackieMarsh,AndrewBurn
andJuliaC.Bishop(editors)
CHILDREN,MEDIAANDPLAYGROUNDCULTURES
EthnographicStudiesofSchoolPlaytimes
StudiesinChildhoodandYouth
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Childhood, Mobile
Technologies and Everyday
Experiences
=
Changing Technologies Changing
Childhoods?
Emma Bond
UniversityCampusSuffolk,Ipswich,UK
©EmmaBond2014
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2014 978-1-137-29252-0
Allrightsreserved.Noreproduction,copyortransmissionofthis
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Firstpublished2014by
PALGRAVEMACMILLAN
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ISBN 978-1-349-45094-7 ISBN 978-1-137-29253-7 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9781137292537
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AcataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary.
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This book is dedicated to my children – Amelia, Harriet,
Florence, Zach and Jemima – and to their childhoods, now
past; to the changing contours of our lives, for their patience
and understanding when times were challenging and for their
love and belief in me as their mother; and to my newly arrived
granddaughter – Molly – whose childhood is already beginning
to fascinate and delight us all
Contents
Acknowledgements viii
1 Introduction 1
2 UnderstandingChildhood 9
3 UnderstandingTechnology 41
4 ResearchingChildhood,MobileInternetTechnologiesand
EverydayExperiences 70
5 Relationships 100
6 Risk 127
7 RhetoricandRealities 158
8 SomeConcludingThoughts 187
References 207
Index 237
vii
Acknowledgements
First, my sincere gratitudemust go to my parents – Michael and Molly
Bond – who have been tremendously supportive to me throughout
my career and have always been on hand to help out with the roller
coasteroffamily–well,myfamily–life!IwouldliketothankProfessor
Sonia Livingstone, whose work has inspired me since I undertook my
PhD at the University of Essex, and whose extensive research with the
EU Kids Online network has informed many of the discussions within
thisbook.IwouldalsoliketothankProfessorEamonnCarrabine,who
first suggested and encouraged me to write this book, and to Andrew
JamesandtheeditorialteamatPalgraveMacmillanfortheiradviceand
patience. Most importantly, my grateful thanks must go to my friend
andcolleagueStuartAgnew,atUniversityCampusSuffolk,whonotonly
offeredguidanceonthecontent,butalsowhosepracticalhelpatwork
enabledmetoactuallygetitwrittenandwithoutwhomthisbookwould
neverhavereachedcompletion.Thankyou.
Finally, my gratitude must be extended to the hours I spent in the
Suffolkcountrysidewhilstwritingthisbook,totheloveIfoundinthe
landscapesinwhichIsoughtsolaceandtothefollyandfieldsofFreston.
viii
1
Introduction
This book is essentially about childhood. In fact, it is about childhood
andtherelationshipbetweenmobiletechnologiesandchildhood,high-
lighting children’s everyday experiences in growing up with mobile
internet technologies. It is an attempt to explore the changing nature
of late-modern childhood and the relationship between childhood, as
a social and cultural construction, and the plethora of mobile internet
technologies which have become ubiquitous in everyday life, and cer-
tainly in most children’s everyday lives. According to recent research
byMascheroniandÓlafsson(2013),smartphonesaredevicesthatmost
childrenarelikelytoown(53percent)oruseatleastonceadaytogo
online. By mobile internet technologies, I include here, of course, not
onlymobilephonesandsmartphonesbutalsopost-PCtablets,netbooks
and e-readers. As the authors (2013, p. 5) point out, however, ‘there is
much current discussion of mobile media, there is scope for different
definitions at this point in time as well as changing definitions over
timeif,liketheinternetitself,mobilemediaareamovingtargetasnew
technologiesandapplicationsarecontinuouslydeveloped’.Myanalysis
here examines what Rich Ling (2012) calls the ‘taken for grantedness’
of mobile technologies and how mobile communication devices have
become embedded in society. Ling (2012, p. 6) uses the term ‘social
mediation technologies’ in that they ‘are legitimated artifacts and sys-
tems governed by group-based reciprocal expectations that enable, but
also set conditions for, the maintenance of the social sphere’. I have,
however,chosentousethephrase‘mobileinternettechnologies’inthis
bookasitisaclearreminderofthemobility,connectivityandtechno-
logicalaffordances(seeHutchby,2001a)thatthesepersonaliseddevices
combine.Becausetheyarenowataken-for-grantedpartofeverydaylife,
1
2 Childhood,MobileTechnologies&EverydayExperiences
it is easy to forget, even as adults whose childhood experiences were
notplayedoutthroughinteractionswithmobileinternettechnologies,
whatlifewaslikebeforewehadthesesmartpocket-sizedbundlesofdig-
italcapabilitiesinourpocketsandhandbags.Inoureverydaylives,they
have indeed become taken for granted (Ling, 2012), and also implied
by ‘taken for granted’ is that we are almost constantly contactable by
and connected to our family, friends, colleagues and the wider society
through the internet. What implications does this have on our fam-
ily lives, friendships, relationships and working lives? We can contact
others in a variety of ways – call and talk to them, send a text mes-
sage or a picture message, we can talk face to face and see each other,
we can send a video or we can email, update our status and get in
touch on Facebook or tweet – to name but a few. We can communi-
cate from wherever we are – on a bus or train, the street or beach,
or even from the middle of a field – provided we are connected in
somewaytoanetwork.Arguably,thisprovidesuswithasenseofsecu-
rity as a result of our constant connectivity. In turn, we can also be
reached by our families, friends and partners, but if we cannot get in
touch with people or if they do not respond almost immediately, in
some instances, a sense of doubt and insecurity often sets in: ‘Why
haven’t they texted me back?’ or ‘I haven’t heard from them in days –
I hope that they are OK’. So, whilst we are reassured and gain secu-
rity through mobile internet technologies, they simultaneously make
us feel insecure and incite anxiety (Bond, 2010). Furthermore, we can
also play games, find out the latest news, check football scores and
weatherforecasts;wecanbuythingswhilstonatrainorwalkingdown
the street; we can watch videos, catch up on missed television pro-
grammes and download podcasts whilst waiting for a bus or sitting
in the dentist’s waiting room. According to Mascheroni and Ólafsson
(2013,p.11),
the place where children are more likely to use their smartphones
at least once a day is actually their own bedroom (39%) or another
room at home (37%). This suggests that children value privacy and
conveniencemorethanmobility–perhapsbecausethesmartphone
isalways‘athand’anddoesn’tneedtobeturnedon.
Throughthesemobileinternetdevices,wehavebecomebothconstant
consumersandproducersofmediaanddigitalartefacts,aswecannow
take,uploadandsharevideosandimagesfromvirtuallyanywhere,allat
thetouchofascreenandwithinseconds.Themostprivatespacesand
