Mobile Generations : The Role of Mobile Technology in the Shaping of Swedish Media Generations

• It is often argued that young people are among the first to adopt new mediatechnologies, and that they are especially keen on taking on all new featuresconnected with mobile technology and the Internet. In spite of this oft-repeatedclaim, one could suspect that since computers and mobile phones have become sowidespread among large portions of the populations in the industrialised world, itmight not be technology, per se, that distinguishes the young from the old, butrather the actual ways in which it is used. One approach to discuss this is in termsof media generations. It could be expected that generations that have grown upwith different mediated experiences during their formative years will relate to themobile technology in a variety of ways (cf. Mannheim, 1952 & Volkmer, 2006). Inthis article, three such generations are analysed: the radio/print generation (born inthe 1930s), the TV generation (born in the 1950s), and the mobile technologygeneration (born in the 1980s). Access and usage patterns are researched, and thedegree to which the three generations differ when it comes to their relations tomobile technology is discussed, but also the unifying character of the mobiletelephony usage. Our methodological approach is quantitative, analysing resultsfrom annually conducted postal surveys that are representative for the Swedishpopulation.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Medie- och kommunikationsvetenskap (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Media and Communications (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Mobile phones

Generations

Media usage

Sweden

Media and communication studies

Medie- och kommunikationsvetenskap

Mobile phones

Generations

Media usage

Sweden

Publikations- och innehållstyp

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